Physiochemical factors and heavy metal pollution, affecting the population abundance of Coenobita scaevola.

Abstract

Hermit crabs (Coenobita scaevola) affect the environmental health. The effects of different physiochemical factors and heavy metals, on the population abundance of hermit crabs, collected from two different coastal stations in the Kish Island of Persian Gulf, Iran, were determined. The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test indicated the significant differences between hermit crab density, water pH, organic matter (OM), and slope, in the two stations. The tissue concentrations of Pb were 22.49\u202f±\u202f5.11 and 19.36\u202f±\u202f5.66\u202fmg/kg, and of Cd were 2.38\u202f±\u202f0.38 and 1.8\u202f±\u202f0.36\u202fmg/kg in the Stations 1 and 2, respectively. The corresponding values in the sediments were equal to 68.75\u202f±\u202f0.7 and 60.22\u202f±\u202f16.03\u202fmg/kg for Pb, and 3.25\u202f±\u202f0.17 and 2.77\u202f±\u202f0.63 for Cd. PCA results indicated sediment OM, slope, and water pH were the three main parameters significantly affecting C. scaevola density. The significance of C. scaevola for biomonitoring the marine ecosystems, has been presented.