Can morphometrics and shell preference behaviour be a tool for hermit crab species identification?

The hermit crabs are 'ecosystem engineers' and are a critical link in the oceanic food web. Six species of genus Coenobita are reported in the group of Andaman and Nicobar Islands namely, Coenobita rugosus, C. brevimanus, C.

Assessing the benthic quality status of three fine sand tropical beaches from the Andaman Islands through the application of marine biotic indices.

The rapid coastal development in the Andaman Islands has resulted in littoral habitat degradation. Understanding the performances of marine biotic indices and the interpretation and translation of those results into coastal health assessment could become an integral tool in future monitoring and management policies. In this line of efforts, the ecological quality status of three sandy beaches, two urban and one nonurban, was evaluated by using three marine biotic indices.

Macrobenthic community of a tropical bay system revisited: Historical changes in response to anthropogenic forcing.

The present study examines historical perspectives of the macrobenthic community in response to different phases of anthropogenic perturbations in Kakinada Bay, a tropical embayment on the east coast of India. Multivariate analysis of the snapshot data (1958-2017) revealed considerable changes in the Bay environment following a breakwater construction across the Bay mouth in 1997. Subsequently, port expansion activities, industrialization, urbanization, and geomorphic alterations in the Godavari delta brought deterrent changes in the Bay.

Testing performances of marine benthic biotic indices under the strong seasonality in the tropical intertidal habitats, South Andaman, India.

Understanding the natural variability and its influence on the performance of marine biotic indices used for the health assessment of marine ecosystem is the prime concern. This study addresses the seasonal variability of univariate and multimetric indices by using macrobenthic data collected from three intertidal habitats for two years (July 2013-July 2015). The univariate indices viz.