In this volume John Murray investigates the ecological processes that control the distribution, abundance, and species diversity of benthic foraminifera in environments ranging from marsh to the deepest ocean. To interpret the fossil record it is necessary to have an understanding of the ecology of modern foraminifera and the processes operating after death leading to burial and fossilisation. This book presents the ecological background required to explain how fossil forms are used in dating rocks and reconstructing past environmental features including changes of sea level. It demonstrates how living foraminifera can be used to monitor modern-day environmental change. Ecology and Applications of Benthic Foraminifera presents a comprehensive and global coverage of the subject using all the available literature. It is supported by a website hosting a large database of additional ecological information (www.cambridge.org/0521828392) and will form an important reference for academic researchers and graduate students in Earth and Environmental Sciences.

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Ecology and Applications of Benthic Foraminifera

Benthic foraminifers: proxies or problems?: A review of paleocological concepts

Microhabitat preferences of benthic foraminifera—a static concept or a dynamic adaptation to optimize food acquisition?

Meiofaunal foraminiferans from the bathyal Porcupine Seabight (northeast Atlantic): size structure, standing stock, taxonomic composition, species diversity and vertical distribution in the sediment

Meiofauna typically inhabit sedimentary zones having substantial concentration gradients in biogcochcmically important solutes such as 0,. Diffusion experiments with the conservative tracers Cl and Br- demonstrate that natural populations of meiofauna (-30-100 cm ‘) can increase transport rates of these solutes by factors of - 1.7-2.3 x (for T > 1oOC) compared with uninhabited sediments. The effect varies seasonally, directly with temperature and probably with faunal composition. About 20-40% of the increase in transport is due to increased porosity (decreased tortuosity) caused by meiofaunal activities and would be accounted for in most estimates of diGsion. The remaining, larger portion, is apparently due more directly to biologically induced fluid motion and three-dimensional diffusion. Transport coefficients can bc resolved into two components with apparent activation energies of - 3 and - 10 kcal mol- I (Q,() - 1.2 and 1.8, T = 1 O”-20°C) consistent with control by physical and metabolic processes. Measurements following addition of particular meiofaunal groups to otherwise natural populations suggest that nematodes, juvenile bivalves, and polychaetes have the greatesE effect. Transport activities of meiofauna must stimulate solute fluxes and reaction rates, particularly aerobic decomposition and associated processes such as nitrification in the oxic zones of marine sediments. In contrast, macrofauna commonly enhance solute transport to a greater extent (2-10 x) than do meiofauna and, while stimulating aerobic reactions, also dramatically promote anaerobic processes in organic-rich deposits.

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1992.37.5.1018

Meiofauna and solute transport in marine muds

The benthic foraminifer Quinqueloculina impressa Reuss, was buried in various types of sediment in order to assess its capability for producing sediment disturbances and thus, ichnofossils. Silts and silty-clays showed distinct burrows; fine sands did not. Two types of burrows were produced: fairly straight, vertical burrows from 4 cm below the water-sediment interface to within 1 cm of the sediment surface, and a horizontal and vertical maze-like burrow system in the top centimetre of the sediment. Individuals moving on the sediment surface also produced visible trails. When the sediments were dried the burrows were always destroyed; in some cases the surface trails were preserved. We propose that the vertical burrows are escape structures and that the horizontal and vertical maze-like structures are living burrows.



Ichnofossils similar to the escape structures and surface structures have been described. Presence of these ichnofossils indicates a low energy sedimentary environment and a lack of macrofaunal bioturbation. The presence of escape structures may indicate a pulsatory pattern of sedimentation.

Kenneth P. Severin

Papers

Burrows and trails produced by Quinqueloculina impressa Reuss, a benthic foraminifer, in fine-grained sediment