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. 2011 Jan 31;6(1):e14613.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014613.

State of knowledge of coastal and marine biodiversity of Indian Ocean countries

Mohideen Wafar  1 , Krishnamurthy Venkataraman, Baban Ingole, Syed Ajmal Khan, Ponnapakkam Lokabharathi
Affiliations

State of knowledge of coastal and marine biodiversity of Indian Ocean countries

Mohideen Wafar et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The Indian Ocean (IO) extends over 30% of the global ocean area and is rimmed by 36 littoral and 11 hinterland nations sustaining about 30% of the world's population. The landlocked character of the ocean along its northern boundary and the resultant seasonally reversing wind and sea surface circulation patterns are features unique to the IO. The IO also accounts for 30% of the global coral reef cover, 40,000 km² of mangroves,some of the world's largest estuaries, and 9 large marine ecosystems. Numerous expeditions and institutional efforts in the last two centuries have contributed greatly to our knowledge of coastal and marine biodiversity within the IO. The current inventory, as seen from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, stands at 34,989 species, but the status of knowledge is not uniform among countries. Lack of human, institutional, and technical capabilities in some IO countries is the main cause for the heterogeneous level of growth in our understanding of the biodiversity of the IO. The gaps in knowledge extend to several smaller taxa and to large parts of the shelf and deep-sea ecosystems, including seamounts. Habitat loss, uncontrolled developmental activities in the coastal zone, over extraction of resources, and coastal pollution are serious constraints on maintenance of highly diverse biota, especially in countries like those of the IO, where environmental regulations are weak.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Geographical spread of the Indian Ocean.
This map depicts the geographical limits of the IO as considered in this article for evaluation of the current state of knowledge of coastal and marine biodiversity.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Relationships between (a) fish, (b) mollusk, and (c) echinoderm diversity and total species diversity.
These relationships have been obtained by fitting linear regressions of total marine species diversity on fish, mollusk and echinoderm species diversity as known from sources considered in this article. These include India (1), Malaysia (2), Kenya (3), Indonesia (4), Madagascar (5), Réunion (6), Seychelles (7) and Western Indian Ocean (8).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Relationship between species numbers in the MASDEA database and those predicted from fish diversity.
The statistically significant relationship obtained between known fish species and total species diversity from some IO countries has been used to predict potential species numbers for IO counties. Values predicted for some East African countries and the island nations in the western IO were then compared with the data as known from the MASDEA database for these countries. 1. Comores, 2. Djibouti, 3. Eritrea, 4.Kenya, 5.Madagascar, 6. Mauritius, 7. Mozambique, 8. Réunion, 9. Seychelles, 10. Somalia and 11. Tanzania.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Distribution of stations for sampling benthos in the Indian Ocean.
The station positions given in this map are, largely, those occupied by Indian research vessels, RV Gaveshani and ORV Sagar Kanya.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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