The present study used beam trawl net to collect crabs by Ocean Researcher III at four sites, Wanggong, Taisi, Cigu and Jiading, in western waters off Taiwan from July 2006 to October 2008. In total, 3205 crabs were obtained, including 11 families, 22 genus, 41 species and 6 unknown species. Among these families, Portunidae contained the most species (21 species, 45¢H), followed by families Majidae (4 species, 9%), Leucosiidae (3 species, 6%) and Dorippidae (3 species, 6%). Six dominant species were Portunus hastatoides (60.1%), Portunus argentatus (13.7%), Portunus sanguinolentus (7.2%), Matuta victor (3.8%), Charybdis truncata (3.0%) and Portunus pelagicus (2.1%) contributing 89.8% of the total catch. P. sanguinolentus (35.6%), P. pelagicus (16.3%), P. hastatoides (12.0%), Calappa philargius (11.5%), P. argentatus (8.0%) and Charybdis feriatus (3.1 %) were the six dominant species (86.5%) by biomass. Spatial distributions of the benthic crabs by number were significantly different. P. argentatus was the most dominant species in Cigu, whereas in the other three stations was P. hastatoide. Among the six species, P. sanguinolentus, P. pelagicus and C. feriatus are the most important species in terms of economic value. The former appeared in large numbers in Jiading and composed 35.6% in weight of the total catch from all sites, while the latter frequently occurred in the other three sites and contributed 16.3% to the overall sample weight. Moreover, P. sanguinolentus was the dominant species in terms of weight in Jiading, but the rest of three sites dominated by P. pelagicus. P. hastatoides occurred mostly in the substrate with very fine sand. P. sanguinolentus increased in number and weight with decreasing of salinity and water depth. P. argentatus had a narrowest optimum temperature range from 24.3 to 28.3¢J.

The study of benthic community structure and protein expression pattern of four benthic species in effluent areas of sewage treatment plants in Kaohsiung, Taiwan Dwi Candra Pratiwi Advisor: Dr. Li-Lian Liu Institute of Marine Biology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C. Abstract In order to gain better understanding on the impacts of sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent on marine environment, the present study was undertaken to investigate the structure of benthic community and protein expression patterns of 4 benthic species in STP effluent areas in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Six sites were selected, 3 near Jhong Jhou STP, 2 near NSYSU STP and one reference site. Samples were collected in December 2009 (winter) and July 2010 (summer) by bottom trawling. In winter, temperature was 26.8oC; salinity and pH were 32. 2‰ and 8.1. In summer, environmental data were 33.7oC, 31.5‰ and 8.0, respectively. In all, 5 phyla, 31 families and 48 different species were captured in two seasons. Proteomic approach by one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1D SDS-PAGE) was conducted on 3 fishes, Leiognathus splendens, Apogon fasciatus, Engyprosopon multisquama, and one crab Portunus hastatoides. Environment characteristics and structure of benthic community had no significant difference among the 6 sampling sites. Protein expression patterns based on the four examined species also indicated no significant difference among sites. The complexity of pollutants in Kaohsiung Harbor is probably the main reason affecting all sampling sites. In other words, contaminated area in Kaohsiung Harbor may cover a wide range, at least III over the present sampling distance, i.e. 8km which causes no difference in community structure and protein expression pattern among control, Jhong Jhou STP and NSYSU STP sites. Key words: 1D SDS-PAGE, Leiognathus splendens, Apogon fasciatus, Engyprosopon multisquama, Portunus hastatoides