Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid

Huge, Jean

Martínez-Espinosa, Columba

Otero Fadul, Viviana

Satyanarayana, Behara

Vande Velde, Katherine

Martinez Espinosa, C.

Otero Fadul, V.

Vande Velde, K.

Hugé, J.

Behara, S.

Dahdouh-Guebas, F.

Open Marine Archive

- 54 - 
 
 
Crab community structure as ecological indicator of Matang 
mangrove forest in Malaysia 
Martinez Espinosa Columba
1
, Otero Fadul Viviana
1
, Vande Velde Katherine
1
, Hugé Jean
1
, Satyanarayana 
Behara
2
, Dahdouh-Guebas Farid
1
 
1 
Unité de Recherche Écologie des Systèmes et Gestion des Ressources, Département de Biologie des 
Organismes, Faculté des Sciences Université Libre de Bruxelles – ULB, Campus de la Plaine, Avenue 
F.D. Roosevelt 50, CPI 264/1, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium  
E-mail: columba.martinez.espinosa@vub.be 
2 Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS), Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) in 
Marine Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu - UMT, 21030, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia  
 
Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve represents the largest contiguous mangrove area in peninsular 
Malaysia, and has been managed for silvicultural purposes for over a century. The management 
focuses on charcoal and poles production has ensured the continuous presence of a mangrove 
ecosystem over an area of 40,000 ha. 
 
This ongoing research aims at investigating mangrove functionality. To accomplish this objective, crab 
community composition is assessed as an ecological indicator. The crab community is the most 
abundant macrofauna group in mangrove forests, it plays an important role in the nutrients cycle 
transfer between the mangrove plants and the soil at the time they are part of the trophic chain. Visual 
census methodologies for mangrove crabs were applied taking into account differing spatial behaviour 
of the species. The census and vegetation structure record was carried out in five different functional 
forest types (i) cleared area, (ii) young plantation (5-7 years), (iii) mid-age plantation (15 years), (iv) 
mature plantation (30 years) and (v) unmanaged forest (> than 90 years). 
 
A positive correlation between vegetation age and crab community structure is expected. The findings 
of this ecological study will be fed into a transdisciplinary assessment, including stakeholder 
perception, to improve conservation and sustainable management of this ecosystem. 
 
Keywords: mangroves; management assessment; crab communities; bioindicator; biodiversity; 
ecological functionality 
  


Crab community structure as ecological indicator of Matang mangrove forest in Malaysia

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Crab community structure as ecological indicator of Matang mangrove forest in Malaysia

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