Chapter III

Materials and Methods

I. Area Identification

[Figure 1. Overview map of Danjugan Island and Agutayan Island; areas in red signify a MPA;
areas in yellow signify a non-MPA; areas in green signify a control site]

Three MPAs are identified within the general area of Danjugan Island. The immediate

non-MPA around the noted areas will be sampled as well in order to compare differences in

macroalgal biomass and diversity. Agutayan Island, a small island approximately one-kilometer

southeast of Danjugan Island will serve as a fourth sampling site and as a control.

Areas enclosed in red lines are MPAs and the three identified are numerically labeled. 1

indicates the MPA at the Western side of Danjugan Island, 2 indicates the MPA at the Eastern

side of the island, and 3 indicates the MPA at the Southern area of the island. Sub-labels indicate

adjacent non-MPA (i.e. 1.a is an adjacent non-MPA of area 1). Two non-MPA around area 3 are
identified (tagged as 3.a and 3.b respectively, with the former in the Western side of the island

and the latter in the Eastern side) but only one of the two areas will be sampled which will be

chosen at random.

II. Materials

200 m transect line

50x50 cm square quadrats

Collection bags and jars

III. Sampling Method

The transect line method will be used in conducting the research. A transect line is laid

out across the desired area beginning from the shoreline towards a determined endpoint. The

total length of the line will range from approximately 100m up to 200m and a width of

approximately 3m at each side. Square quadrats are placed at predetermined points. The interval

between the points will vary between sampling areas due to differences in the total length of the

line therefore the distance between two intervals will be the 10% approximate of the total span of

the transect line (e.g. a 100m transect line would yield points at every 10m). A single 50x50cm

square quadrat is randomly placed within the determined interval.

A total of 3 transect lines will be laid out at each designated area.

All macroalgal species enclosed within the quadrat will be collected. Percent cover of

unique species will be estimated from surface observation. Collection will resume until all points

along the line have been sampled. All samples from a single quadrat will be placed in a net bag.

Once collection has been completed in a specified area, species segregation will be done. Species
that have been separated and identified will have their initial fresh/wet weight quantified. Four

voucher specimens representing each unique species will be preserved in a formalin solution

contained in either a zip lock bag or a glass jar.

After all areas have been sampled, the retrieved specimens will be taken back to the

University of St. La Salle. Collected species will be oven dried and their dry weights retrieved.

Chosen voucher specimens will be subjected to a plant press in order to preserve it in a

herbarium.

Physiochemical properties of the sampling areas—water temperature, water pH, and

dissolved oxygen—will also be obtained and these shall be correlated with the physical data

obtained from the species samples.

IV. Analysis of Data

Biomass of each individual species taken from a quadrat will be derived from the product

of the estimated percent cover of each species with the difference of their dry and fresh weights.

Biomass of sp. (g) = Est. % cover x (/fresh weight – dry weight/)

For example, species 1 has an estimated percent cover of 30% and initial fresh weight is

quantified to be at 0.60 g. After oven drying, the sample is weighed again and is now at 0.30 g.

Using the given formula, biomass of that sample of species 1 will be 9 g.

All instances of a unique species occurring within an area are plotted against the quadrat

number and the total biomass is computed. Results obtained from MPAs shall be contrasted

against results obtained from non-MPAs.

 Relative species abundance and species richness will also be quantified from the tally of

observed and sampled species. Relative species abundance is calculated by dividing the number

of individuals of a certain species over the total population of all species. In the case of

macroalgal species abundance, the number of instances (number of quadrats the species is

observed) instead of number of individuals will be used. Therefore computation of the measure

will be the total number of instances a species is encountered in area divided by the total number

of instances of all species in an area.

Relative species abundance = # of instances of sp. / # of instances of all sp.

For example, species 1 appears in six quadrats (six instances) and an area has a total

number of 30 instances for all species identified. Therefore, the relative abundance of species 1

is 0.2

The general diversity of an area will be derived using the Shannon-Weiner Index. The

index will quantify how evenly distributed the macroalgal species are in an area and takes into

account the number of identified species, species abundance, and the total number of instances

each species occurs. The index is computed by the negative summation of the product of species

richness and the natural logarithm of species richness.

H’ = -∑ (pilnpi)

Pi represents the relative species abundance of a species. An example of the use of the

index is as follows:
[Figure 2. Theoretical tally of macroalgal species abundance in area 1 & 2]

AREA 1 AREA 2
SPECIES # OF pi pilnpi # OF pi pilnpi

INSTANCES INSTANCES
Halimeda sp. 3 0.25 -0.35 5 0.42 -0.36
Sargassum sp. 2 0.17 -0.30 0 - -
Caulpera sp. 7 0.58 -0.32 7 0.58 -0.32
TOTAL 12 -0.97 12 -0.68

The negative summation of pilnpi will result in an index rating of 0.97 for area 1 and 0.68

for area 2 if these results were obtained. The closer the index is to zero, the lower is its general

species evenness and richness. As in the theoretical case of areas 1 & 2, area 2 has a lower index

as that of area 1 thus it can be assumed that area 2 has lower species richness and evenness (it

can be noted though in the example that although both areas have the same number of

individuals, area 2 only has two unique species while area 1 has three which can be a factor in

the species richness of an area).