Student Research Reports

View Research Report

Evaluating the effect of brackish water and various physical factors that are capable of affecting the Mangrove Crab (Episesarma mederi) population is the main goal of this current investigation. Using the standard equipment from Extech, the researchers characterized several physico-chemical factors, biological factors, physical factors in the natural habitat of mangrove crab such as water temperature, TDS, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, salinity, transparency, water pH, air temperature, and relative humidity. The number and diameter of the mangrove crab holes were counted and measured. Results showed that there was a significant difference in various physico-chemical factors measured except for water temperature. The population of the experimental organism varied due to different level of salinity. Based on the experimentations, results and gathered data, the researchers concluded that there was significant difference (p<0.05) in the physico-chemical factors measured in the natural habitat of mangrove crab (Episesarma mederi) and the population of mangrove crabs (Episesarma mederi) at Samet, Chonburi, Thailand is impacted by brackish water with varying salinity levels. Furthermore, the researchers recommended that further research will be conducted to evaluate the other parameters in the seawater and more experimental sites in Chonburi will be tested and compared which are necessary for determining the correlation of water quality and mangrove crab population. Keywords: Physico-chemical factors, mangrove crab, brackish water