Morphology and microhabitat preferences of benthic foraminifera from the northwest Atlantic Ocean

Live benthic foraminiferal faunas from the Bay of Biscay: faunal density, composition, and microhabitats

“…These values agree with recent data obtained in the Cap Ferret region during five ECOFER cruises: from 0.7 to 1.2 g C/m 2 /day in spring (May 1990 and1991) and 0.3 g C/m 2 /day in October 1990 (Laborde et al, 1999). Laborde et al (1999) estimate total annual primary production between 145 and 170 g C/m 2 /yr.…”

“…The almost perfect separation between the group of superficial infaunal taxa (dominated by Nuttallides umboniferus, U. peregrina and U. mediterranea) from a deep infaunal assemblages (dominated by Globobulimina affinis) is striking. The appearance of more oligotrophic shallow infaunal taxa such as H. elegans, N. umboniferus and C. pachydermus (compare Corliss, 1985;Corliss and Emerson, 1990;Corliss, 1991), shows the influence of the gradually decreasing organic flux towards deeper areas. Also rather oligotrophic arborescent agglutinated taxa (Jones and Charnock, 1985), which have not been included in our counting results, are very abundant at this station (575 fragments).…”

“…These shallow infaunal species have been described in a wide variety of eutrophic settings, needing an exported labile organic flux of at least 2.5 g C/m 2 /yr (e.g. Lutze and Coulbourne, 1984;Corliss, 1985;Corliss and Emerson, 1990;Corliss, 1991;De Rijk et al, 2000;Morigi et al, in press). They can be considered as feeding on labile organic matter in rather well oxygenated shallow infaunal microhabitats.…”

Modern Distribution of Benthic Foraminifera From Disko Bugt, West Greenland

“…The calcareous species M. barleeanum and N. labradorica are also common in FAZs 2 and 3, both species are closely linked to the availability of organic matter (e.g., Wollenberg and Mackensen, 1998;Rytter and others, 2002;Jennings and others, 2004). Melonis barleeanum is an infaunal species that feeds on buried organic matter (Corliss, 1985(Corliss, , 1991 while N. labradorica is common in areas of high productivity (Polyak and others, 2002) and areas with fresh phytodetritus (Hald and Steinsund, 1992). Both species are associated with the highest levels of TOC and TN in the Disko Bugt samples.…”

Marginal marine environments of the Skagerrak and Kattegat: a baseline study of living (stained) benthic foraminiferal ecology

“…In the Skagerrak-Kattegat it seems to live in all the environmental types investigated, including the Zostera belt, but we did not record it on the algae or Carex leaves. Ozarko et al (1997) characterize M. fusca as being primarily epifaunal to very slightly infaunal, but it is not clear whether they actually observed it attached or clinging to objects elevated above the sediment surface or if they used the definition by Corliss (1991) of the term epifaunal (i.e., the upper 0-1 cm of the sediment). On the other hand, Wefer (1976) recorded it attached to algae where it could make up to 50% of the epiphytic assemblage.…”