COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EPIPHYTIC FORAMINIFERA IN SEDIMENTS COLONIZED BY SEAGRASS POSIDONIA OCEANICA AND INVASIVE MACROALGAE CAULERPA SPP.

Research Article| April 01, 2010 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EPIPHYTIC FORAMINIFERA IN SEDIMENTS COLONIZED BY SEAGRASS POSIDONIA OCEANICA AND INVASIVE MACROALGAE CAULERPA SPP. Guillem Mateu-Vicens; Guillem Mateu-Vicens 4 1MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobenerstrasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany. 4Correspondence author: E-mail: gmateu@marum.de Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Antonio Box; Antonio Box 2Laboratori de Biologia Marina, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Salud Deudero; Salud Deudero 2Laboratori de Biologia Marina, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Beatriz Rodríguez Beatriz Rodríguez 3Laboratori de Micropaleontologia, Departament de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Guillem Mateu-Vicens 4 1MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobenerstrasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany. Antonio Box 2Laboratori de Biologia Marina, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Salud Deudero 2Laboratori de Biologia Marina, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Beatriz Rodríguez 3Laboratori de Micropaleontologia, Departament de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra. de Valldemossa kM 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 4Correspondence author: E-mail: gmateu@marum.de Publisher: Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Received: 16 Jan 2009 Accepted: 24 Aug 2009 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-264X Print ISSN: 0096-1191 © 2010 Journal of Foraminiferal Research Journal of Foraminiferal Research (2010) 40 (2): 134–147. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.40.2.134 Article history Received: 16 Jan 2009 Accepted: 24 Aug 2009 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Guillem Mateu-Vicens, Antonio Box, Salud Deudero, Beatriz Rodríguez; COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EPIPHYTIC FORAMINIFERA IN SEDIMENTS COLONIZED BY SEAGRASS POSIDONIA OCEANICA AND INVASIVE MACROALGAE CAULERPA SPP.. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 2010;; 40 (2): 134–147. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.40.2.134 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyJournal of Foraminiferal Research Search Advanced Search Abstract Mediterranean shallow-water soft bottoms are characterized by extensive meadows of the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile that support abundant benthic biota including numerous epiphytic foraminiferal taxa. The biomass of the epiphytic communities varies with the P. oceanica cycle, especially influencing those taxa with higher abundances in summer, when the foliar surface is maximum. During the past decades exotic macrophyte species have invaded habitats formerly dominated by P. oceanica. Two of these taxa are the green algae Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl) Agardh, 1817 and C. racemosa (Forsskål) Agardh, 1873, that, along with the non-invasive C. prolifera (Forsskål) Lamouroux, 1809, produce defensive, secondary metabolites such as caulerpenyne that affects turnover rates of P. oceanica leaves. As a consequence of different architectural features of the algal substrate, replacement of P. oceanica by Caulerpa spp. results in the change from a complex three-dimensional, long duration substrate into a simpler, two-dimensional one with a shorter life span.Epiphytic foraminifers can be clustered into functional groups according to their shape, structure, behavior and life span. The foraminiferal dead assemblage includes a total of 110 species, that included 43 species in sediments colonized by P. oceanica, 82 species in sediments with C. prolifera, 78 in sediments invaded by C. taxifolia, and 55 in sediments invaded by C. racemosa. Taxonomic composition of all assemblages is similar, though differences occur in the relative abundance of each taxon. Sediments in P. oceanica meadows are characterized by flat, encrusting, long life-span species (e.g., Planorbulina mediterranensis d’Orbigny, 1826), whereas in Caulerpa spp. habitat, temporarily motile, shorter life-span taxa (e.g., Lobatula lobatula (Walker and Jacob, 1798) and Rosalina bradyi Cushman, 1915) tend to dominate. Multivariate analysis shows that only the thanathocoenosis of P. oceanica sediments is representative of the P. oceanica epiphytic foraminiferal assemblage (Planorbulinatum medi-terranensaeColom, 1942). Hence, differences among the foraminiferal assemblages in sediments colonized by different phytal substrates occur prior to taphonomic and dissolution processes and may be applicable to paleoecological interpretations. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.