This research group focuses on investigating biology of aquatic organisms and their relationships with environments to better inform scientific understanding and management of biodiversity. We work on aquatic organisms ranging from microbes to shellfishes and fishes, and aquatic ecosystems as diverse as freshwater, brackish water, coastal and terrestrial areas.

D) Bio-Geography and Distribution Pattern Assessment of Freshwater Mussels from Sarawak

Introduction:

Caenogastropoda is the most dominant gastropod group in terms of abundance and distribution of species and including their ecological and commercial importance. Among the living snails, Caenogastropoda encompass almost 60% of the reported species. They are the largest and most diverse group of gastropods and can therefore, be found in a wide range of environments, some of which can be found in freshwater, brackish water, coastal and terrestrial areas. Furthermore, they also have diverse habits as they can be benthic epifaunal or burrowers, pelagic drifters or dynamic swimmers; herbivores or grazing or active carnivores, detritus or sedentary suspension feeders, ectoparasites or shell-less internal parasites. However, the overall diversity of freshwater gastropods in Malaysia, particularly in Sarawak remains poorly documented in comparison to other part of Southeast Asia region. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of knowledge, conservation and management effort on freshwater Caenogastropoda in Malaysia particularly in Sarawak. Therefore, present study is aim to provide more information on habitat characteristic of Caenogastropoda and species that presence in the Bintulu. This project was funded through Universiti Putra Malaysia grant GP-IPM/2017/9538200.

Publication

Journal

1. Hamli, S.H. Syed Azmai, S. Abdul Hamed and Abdulla-Al-Asif (2020) Diversity and Habitat Characteristics of Local Freshwater Gastropoda (Caenogastropoda) from Sarawak, Malaysia, Singapore Journal of Scientific Research, 10(1):23-27
   
   Gastropoda communities are the most diverse class of mollusc and considered as foremost constituent in the freshwater ecosystems and fisheries economy. However, there is knowledge gap and documentation of freshwater gastropods (Caenogastropoda) in Malaysia particularly in Sarawak. Therefore, this study was performed to identify the species composition and to determine the diversity and abundance of freshwater gastropods communities from selected Bintulu, Sarawak freshwater ecosystems. Number of individual and gastropod species were count randomly at triplicate quadrat (1×1 m) from 5 sampling location in Bintulu, Sarawak Malaysia. Data of identified species was analyzed for diversity index and correlation with water parameters. Present study revealed a total of 5 species from Pachychilidae and Thiaridae families at the 5 sampling locations. Melanoides tuberculata was the most abundant species. Shannon indices and Simpson’s indices revealed the species diversity and richness were highest at station 3 compared to the other four study locations. Abiotic parameters (dissolved oxygen, pH, water temperature, turbidity and conductivity) indicated significantly difference (p<0.05) among the stations. Dissolved oxygen indicates highly positive relation with the diversity of gastropods. New distribution of local freshwater gastropod from Sarawak has been documented and dissolved oxygen level in the water as one measure to assess diversity of freshwater gastropods in the environment.

For more further enquiries:

Dr. Hadi Bin Hamli
Senior Lecturer
Department of Animal Science and Fisheries
Faculty of Agricultural Science and Forestry
Tel: +6086 8558382
Email: hadihamli@upm.edu.my

Kemaskini:: 07/09/2020 [lanz]