THE ABUNDANCE OF HOLOTHURIA (HALODEIMA) ATRA (JAEGER, 1833) IN KARIMUNJAWA AND SINTOK ISLAND, KARIMUNJAWA NATIONAL PARK, JEPARA, INDONESIA RELATED TO DENSITY OF SEAGRASSMeylisa S. Ayu, Retno Hartati, Sunaryo, Raden Ario, Widianingsih Widianingsih and Agoes SoegiantoAbstract Seagrasses have been known as one of the most important marine resources. They provide a great ecological important marine ecosystem service. They also have function to provide habitat for a variety of life forms in coastal waters as well as serving as nursery, shelter and feeding area for many species, including sea cucumber. The objectives of the present work was to determine the relationship between Holothuria (Halodeima) atra (Jaeger, 1833) abundance and seagrass density in Alang-alang waters and Pancuran waters of Karimunjawa and Sintok Island of Karimunjawa National Park. Quadrant transects of 50x50 cm2 were applied to observe the seagrass species, density and coverage as well as to determine the abundance of H. atra in different locations with dense, medium, low density of seagrass. The results showed that there were medium coverage conditions of seagrass in research locations, where in Pancuran waters found more percentage coverage than other locations. It also had more (8) species of seagrass, i.e. Enhalusacoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, Halophila ovalis, Halodule uninervis, Halodule pinifolia, Cymodocea rotundata, Cymodocea serrulata, and Syringodium isoetifolium while in Alang-Alang and Sintok Waters found only five species. Based on density of seagrass the denser seagrass the more abundance the H. atra. So that in Karimunjawa National Park, the abundance of H. atra found to have strong to very strong relationship with seagrass density that showed its importance as habitat as well as food source for H. atra populations. |