Abstract We analyze the spatial distributions of two groups of benthic foraminifera (Adelosina spp. + Quinqueloculina spp. and Elphidium spp.), along Sicilian coast, and their correlation with six different heavy metals, responsible for the pollution. Samples were collected inside the Gulf of Palermo, which has a high level of pollution due to heavy metals, and along the coast of Lampedusa isla...

Factors influencing the composition of shallow water benthic foraminifera along the SW coast of South Africa at two locations (Table Bay, TB; St Helena Bay, SHB) ∼200km from each other were examined. Small taxa dominated in both locations; living assemblages from SHB (28 species, Ammonia parkinsoniana dominant) differed from TB (34 species, Elphidium articulatum dominant). Environmental paramet...

Dockyards and harbors are recognized as being important locations where sediment-associated pollutants can accumulate, which constitutes an environmental risk to aquatic life due to potential uptake and accumulation of heavy metals in the biota. The aim of this paper is to assess the concentrations and the effects of some heavy metals in the benthic foraminifera assemblage in Niterói Harbor. Lo...

Increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations lead to decreased pH and carbonate availability in the ocean (Ocean Acidification, OA). Carbon dioxide seeps serve as ‘windows into the future’ to study the ability of marine invertebrates to acclimatise to OA. We studied benthic foraminifera in sediments from shallow volcanic CO2 seeps in Papua NewGuinea. Conditions follow a gradient from present day pH...

benthic foraminiferal assemblages from maastrichtian strata, gansserina gansseri-abathamphalus mayaroensis planktonic foraminiferal zone, of the abtalkh formation at aitamir section (west of the kopeh-dagh basin) were investigated in order to evaluate the palaeoenvironmental changes (organic matter flux and bottom-water oxygenation). maastrichtian faunal assemblages are well preserved and diver...

Deep-sea benthic foraminifera live in the largest habitat on Earth, constitute an important part of its benthic biomass, and form diverse assemblages with common cosmopolitan species. Modern deep-sea benthic foraminiferal assemblages are strongly infl uenced by events affecting their main food source, phytoplankton (a relationship known as bentho-pelagic coupling). Surprisingly, benthic foramin...

The distributional patterns of benthic foraminifera provide key information for paleoclimatic, paleoecologic, and paleoceanographic studies. Yet the dispersal mechanisms that provide a crucial link between local populations and large-scale biogeographic patterns are not well documented. We experimentally demonstrate the dispersal of propagules, which include both sexually and asexually produced...

Evidence of increasing concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide, especially in the surface ocean and its associated impacts on calcifying organisms, is accumulating. Among these organisms, benthic and planktonic foraminifera are responsible for a large amount of the globally precipitated calcium carbonate. Hence, their response to an acidifying ocean may have important consequences for future...