Distribution of soft bottom macrobenthic mollusca and crustacea species of Muğla bays

The samples and environmental parameter data used within the scope of this master thesis study covers the 5 main bays of Muğla (Fethiye Bay, Marmaris Bay, Hisarönü Bay, Gökova Bay and Güllük Bay). Althought, the environmental parameters used were obtained in the summer seasons of 2003 and 2004 (June and August) within the scope of TUBITAK project numbered YDABAG-102Y058. Benthic samples, on the other hand, were taken during this work, but outside the scope of the project. Muğla province is an important region in Turkey for tourism activities, secondary residential settlement and aquaculture activities. Considering these activities, macrobenthic invertebrates are used as biological tools in order to monitor the human-induced stress factors on the aquatic environment and to determine the existing ecological status of the marine environment. Depending on these, it is important to determine the macrobenthic invertebrate species in Muğla gulfs and to examine the effects of aquaculture activities operating in the region during the sampling years on these species. Within the scope of benthic sampling, a total of 1008 individuals belonging to 217 Mollusca and Crustacea species were determined. The Crustacea was represented by 143 species (5 orders) and the Mollusca 74 species (4 classes). According to Soyer Index, no permanent species were found in the study area. In addition, Apseudopsis latreillii, Nucula nitidosa species were found to be common species. The highest number of species and abundance was observed in Güllük Bay, and the highest average biomass was in Fethiye Bay. Besides, Gökova Bay exhibited the lowest number of species and abundance values. The lowest average biomass was found in Güllük Bay. As the results obtained from this thesis study, the relationships of macrobenthic invertebrate species in the study area with species compositions and environmental parameters in different gulfs and depths were revealed. Moreover, the effects of aquaculture activities located in the sampling areas on mactobenthic invertebrates during the years of the study sampling were also reported. The effects of aquaculture activities on the study area were optimistic as Polychaeta species (pollution indicators) were not evaluated within the scope of the thesis. Although there are no heavily polluted areas, it has being recorded thet there are areas that have started to become polluted and moderately polluted. The aforementioned aquaculture farms were removed from the coast in 2006 and moved to open waters, especially as a result of disagreements between the tourism sector and the aquaculture sector. In this study, it was also possible to compare the effects of aquaculture farms on the benthic environment with nowday's.