Struktur komunitas Echinodermata pada ekosistem lamun Desa Taula’a Kecamatan Bilato, Kabupaten Gorontalo

Abstract. Echinodermata is playing an important role in food chains in waters ecosystem; however, there was no report on the Echinodermata structure in the seagrass ecosystem of Taula’a village, Gorontalo district. Hence, the objective of the study was to to determine the community structure of Echinoderms in the seagrass ecosystem of coastal area of Taula’a village, Bilato, Gorontalo regency. The research was conducted from January to April 2019. There were 3 observation stations chosen purposively. The sample of Echinoderms was observed at low tide using methods of quadrats and transects of 1×1 m. In addition, the water parameters were also measured i.e the temperature, the salinity, the pH, the water depth, the substrate and the water flow. Furthermore, diversity, dominanc and Evenness index were analyzed using software PAST 3.22. The results showed that there were 13 species of Echinoderms representing 4 classes, namely Ophiuroidea, Asteriodea, Echinodea dan Holothuroidea in which the highest total abundance was on 1st station and the lowest total abundance was on the 2nd station. The index of diversity was in the medium category, the index of domination was in the low category, the index of evenness showed an equitable distribution and the index of uniformity was very high.Keywords : Echinoderms, community, seagrass, Past 3.22 Abstrak. Echinodermata memiliki peranan penting dalam rantai makanan pada ekosistem laut, namun demikian struktur komunitasnya di ekosistim lamun Desa Taula’a Kabupaten Gorontalo belum pernah dilaporkan. Oleh karena itu peneilitan ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui struktur komunitas Echinodermata pada ekosistem lamun di wilayah pesisir Desa Taula’a, Bilato Kabupaten Gorontalo. Penelitian dilaksanakan pada bulan Januari hingga April 2019. Terdapat 3 stasiun pengamatan yang dipilih secara purposive. Pengamatan sampel Echinodermata dilakukan pada saat surut dengan menggunakan transek kuadran 1×1 m. Selain itu dilakukan juga pengukuran terhadap parameter air yaitu suhu, salinitas, pH, kedalaman, substrat dan arus. Nilai indeks keanekaragaman, indeks dominansi dan indeks kemerataan dianalisis menggunakan software PAST 3.22. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan sebanyak 13 spesies Echinodermata ditemukan yang mewakili 4 kelas yaitu Ophiuroidea, Asteriodea, Echinodea dan Holothuroidea dimana kelimpahan total tertinggi pada stasiun I dan terendah pada stasiun II. Indeks keanekaragaman kategori sedang, indeks dominasi rendah, indeks kemerataan menunjukkan penyebaran yang merata dan indeks keseragaman yang sangat tinggi. Kata kunci: Echinodermata, komunitas, Lamun, Past 3.2