DISTRIBUTION OF EPIPHYTIC CYANOBACTERIA ON RED MACROALGAL SPECIES OCCURRING AT A ROCKY SHORE (BULEJI), KARACHI, PAKISTAN

The present research was undertaken with a view to expand the pool of knowledge regarding epiphytic cyanobacteria, particularly those growing on macroalgal species inhabiting intertidal zone of Buleji coast. Most of the cyanobacterial species reported in the study as epiphytic forms were also reported from various types of soil and hard substrata in terrestrial and aquatic habitats, such as, river soil, cultivated and non-cultivated soil, mud mangrove swamps, pneumatophores of mangrove, beach rocks, stones surfaces, associated with sea grasses and on macroalgae (Rigonato et al., 2012; Larkum, et al., 2012; Vizzini, et al., 2002; Borowitzka, et al., 2007; Saifullah and Ahmed, 2007; Bano and Siddiqui, 2004; Toledo et al., 1995; Santra and Pal, 1988; Santra et al., 1988; Maity et al., 1987; Aleem, 1980; Desikachary, 1959). The present study provide a basic information about epiphytic cyanobacteria on a variety of macroalgal species inhabiting the rocky shore of Buleji and confirms the presence of many species reported from other parts of the world in the Northern Arabian Sea bordering Pakistan. [...]advance research work has to be undertaken to obtain information about the diversity of epiphytic cyanobacteria in the marine environment. Rosenberg, G. and Paerl, H.W. (1980) Nitrogen fixation by blue-green algae associated with the siphonaceous green seaweed Codium decorticatum: effects of ammonium uptake, Marine Biology 61, 151-158.