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Foraminifera in the Marshes and mangrove swamps

Marshes and mangrove swamps

Tidal marshes and mangrove swamps represent transitional regions between marine/brackish water and terrestrial environments. Tidl marshes occur in temperate areas, whereas the mangrove swamp is characteristic for tropics

Murray (1972) lists the following characteristics of these environments :

  1. It is developed in the upper part of the intertidal zone
  2. During much of each tidal cycle it is exposed to the atmosphere
  3. It spends a smaller part of the tidal cycle submerged beneath sea or estuarine water
  4. It is subject to the more dramatic fluctuations in temperature of the atmosphere
  5. Fresh water is periodically introduced from rain showers
  6. There is usually high organic productivity by the marsh plants and microflora
  7. The fauna comprises few permanent indigenous species although migratory terrestrial animals are sometimes common

Tidal marshes can be subdivided in three groups according to salinity;

  1. Hyposalina marshes
  2. Normal marine marshes
  3. Hypersaline marshes

Species diversity is highest in hyposaline marshes, although the general diversity is low.

The hyposaline marshes are characterized by the predominance of arenaceous species (Miliammina sp., Ammotium sp., Trochammina inflate) and rotaliids ( Elphidium spp.) and the absence of miliolids

Normal marine marshes are inhabited by dominantly arenaceous species with minor miliolieds and rotaliids.

In hypersaline marshes the percentage of arenaceous species, miliolids and rotaliids is about equal.

Typical cosmopolitan marsh species are:

-          Ammotium salsum

-          Arenoparrella Mexicana

-          Miliammina fusca

-          Taclammina macrescens

Interpreting an ancient marsh environment may be difficult. Due to reducing conditions calcareous test are easily destroyed after death. After complete solution of calcareous species, it is impossible to distinguish between the various marsh environments. Only the low diversity and an assemblage consisting of small arenaceous species such as Trochammina sp.. Haplophragmoides sp., Ammobaculites sp. points to a marsh origin. If Miliammina sp is present in this assemblage, a hyposaline lagoon could also be indicated.

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contemporary foraminiferal distributions of a mangrove environment
of the upper-intertidal and lowsupratidal zones, in the form of mangrove swamps, salt Salinity control on the distribution of salt marsh Foraminifera (Great Marshes, Massachusetts).
From: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/bph/RES2003/Horton%20et%20al%20Marine%20Geology.pdf

identification guide mangrove literature
tidal waters emerging from a mangrove forest at Cananeia, Brazil." Mangroves and Salt Marshes 2 The ecology of the mangrove swamps at Inhaca modern shallow water benthic foraminifera
From: http://student.vub.ac.be/~dagillik/mangrove/biblio.htm

illustration of modern benthic foraminifera from bermuda and remarks
Fringing mangrove swamps are almost exclusively concentrated along the north shore of the Reworked lagoon/reef foraminifera: Amphistegina lessonii, Archaias angulatus
From: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/pe/2003_1/benthic/benthic.pdf

conference program abstracts excursion guide
8 S1-2 Diatom and foraminifera as indicators of environmental change in mangrove swamps of Ca Mau Peninsula, Vietnam Ta Thi m thick of clay layer, were found in the back marshes
From: http://www.geogr.lit.nagoya-u.ac.jp/aaplat/hcm_conf_3rd.pdf

field experiments on bioturbation in salt marshes bombay hook
Fiddler crabs are abundant in salt marshes, salt flats and mangrove swamps along tropical, neotropicaland development of the St Jones estuary, Delaware (USA): foraminifera as proxies
From: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/bph/Res2009/Leorri%20et%20al_JQS_2008.pdf

the management of natural coastal carbon sinks
• Each molecule of CO 2 sequestered in soils of *ü dal salt marshes and their tropical equivalents, mangrove swamps, probably has greater value than that stored in any other natural
From: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/carbon_managment_report_final_printed_version_1.pdf

tce bibliography
Abuodha, P.A.W. & J.G. Kairo, 2001. Human-induced stresses on mangrove swamps along the 1998. Traditional and medicinal uses of mangroves. Mangroves and Salt Marshes 2
From: http://www.vub.ac.be/APNA/research/Mangroves_and_biocomplexity/TCE.html

guidelines for the bioremediation of oilcontaminated salt marshes
Coastal wetlands can be classified into tidal salt marshes, tidal fresh water marshes, and mangrove swamps In this study, Foraminifera (forams), single-celled
From: http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=901V0000.txt

references taxonomy and ecology
Foraminifera: distribution of provinces in the Gulf of Mexico. Nature 290: 328-329. Recent foraminifera in mangrove swamps and river estuaries and their fossil counterparts in
From: http://www.marine.usf.edu/reefslab/foramcd/html_files/environmental_references.htm

chapter three geology of the new orleans region
that periodically overflow into shallow swamps and marshes lying in the New Orleans area, inland swamps and mangrove swamps. hurricane storm surge or tsunami. 3.6.3 Foraminifera
From: http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~new_orleans/report/CH_3.pdf

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