Identification of biological and physicochemical parameters of salt pond lands in Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

The coastal area is a transition zone that can be used by various marine biota to support their lives. The aim of this study was to determine the abundance of plankton and gastropods in traditional and integrated saltwork pond lands. This research was conducted from March to November 2020 in Pati Regency, Indonesia, with 8 locations consisting of 4 locations in traditional systems and 4 locations in integrated systems. A statistical analysis using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to reveal the relationship between the saltwork system and the abundance of plankton and gastropods. The PCA results showed that under conditions of dust substrate and high Pb content, a high abundance of Stenothyra ventricosa and zooplankton was found. The higher dust substrate resulted in a higher abundance of phytoplankton. Meanwhile, a higher specific gravity resulted in a lower abundance of S. ventricosa in the integrated system. The results showed that the type of plankton found in the integrated and traditional systems was Nitzschia sp. and the type of gastropod found in both saltwork systems was S. ventricosa. The types of plankton and gastropods can be used as indicators of the saltwork systems, both traditional and integrated. In addition, it is necessary that the sedimentary soil conditions in the integrated system have ideal dust conditions of 81-95.8%. The integrated system has advantages, in terms of salt specific gravity, but also in terms of species diversity, which are markers of the saltwork ecosystems quality.