Identification of Benthic Foraminifera Presence in the Marginal Environments of Biliran Island, Philippines
Main Article Content
Abstract
Benthic foraminifera are unicellular marine micro-organism with a hard exoskeleton and commonly present in the benthic community of marine ecosystem. This study aimed to identify the benthic foraminifera present along the coastal areas of eight municipalities in Biliran Island, Philippines. Quadrat sampling was conducted and three samples per quadrant transect of 1 m × 1 m divided into nine squares were collected. The samples were then observed under the microscope, and the specimens seen were identified by comparing them with the images of the sample species from the website https://marinespecies.org/. The researchers conducted an in-situ collection of the foraminiferal shells from intertidal areas along shallow water coastlines of the island. Results showed that the coastal environment of Biliran Island has the presence of the genera Spirillina, Quinqueloculina, Marginopora and Sorites. The identified species were classified based on their feeding mechanisms as herbivory and passive suspension feeding. The presence of benthic foraminifera species along the coastal environments of Biliran Island provides a record of the environment where they are found, making them natural bioindicators of water quality. This study provides a baseline for further studies on the distribution and abundance of benthic foraminifera in the area and can contribute to the understanding of the environmental conditions of the coastal areas in Biliran Island.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Alve E. (1995). Benthic foraminiferal responses to estuarine pollution: A review. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 25(3): 190–203. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.25.3.190
Alve E, Lepland A, Magnusson J and Backer-Owe K. (2009). Monitoring strategies for re-establishment of ecological reference conditions: Possibilities and limitations. Marine Pollution Bulletin 59(8): 297–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.08.011
Armynot du Chatelet E, Debenay J and Soulard R. (2004). Foraminiferal proxies for pollution monitoring in moderately polluted harbors. Environment Pollution 127: 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0269-7491(03)00256-2
Benito X, Trobajo R, Ibañez C, Cearreta A and Brunet M. (2015). Benthic foraminifera as indicators of habitat change in anthropogenically impacted coastal wetlands of the Ebro Delta (NE Iberian Peninsula). Marine Pollution Bulletin 101(1): 163–173.
Cearreta A, Irabien M, Leorri E, Yusta I, Quintanilla A and Zabaleta A. (2002). Environmental transformation of the Bilbao estuary, N. Spain: Microfaunal and geochemical proxies in the recent sedimentary record. Marine Pollution Bulletin 44(6): 487–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-326X(01)00261-2
Cheng J, Collins L and Holmes C. (2012). Four thousand years of habitat change in Florida Bay, as indicated by benthic foraminifera. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 42: 3–17. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.42.1.3
Debenay J and Fernandez J. (2009). Benthic foraminifera records of complex anthropogenic environmental changes combined with geochemical data in a tropical bay of New Caledonia (SW Pacific). Marine Pollution Bulletin 59(8–12): 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.09.014
de Jesus M, Frontalini F, Bouchet V M, Yamashita C, Sartoretto J R, Figueira R and de Mello e Sousa S. (2020). Reconstruction of the palaeo-ecological quality status in an impacted estuary using benthic foraminifera: The Santos Estuary (São Paulo state, SE Brazil). Marine Environmental Research 162: 105121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105121
Dolven J K, Alve E, Rygg B and Magnusson J. (2013). Defining past ecological status and in situ reference conditions using benthic foraminifera: A case study from the Oslofjord, Norway. Ecological Indicators 29: 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.12.031
El Albani A, Gabriela Mangano M, Buatois L A and Canfield D E. (2019). Organism motility in an oxygenated shallow-marine environment 2.1 billion years ago. PNAS 116(9): 3431–3436. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815721116
Fernández-Garcia V, Fule P Z, Marcos E and Calvo L. (2019). The role of fire frequency and severity on the regeneration of Mediterranean serotinous pines under different environmental conditions. Forest Ecology and Management 444: 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.04.040
Ferraro P and Hanauer M M. (2014). Advances in measuring the environmental and social impacts of environmental programs. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 39(1): 495–517. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-101813-013230
Frontalini F and Coccioni R. (2011). Benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of pollution: A review of Italian research over the last three decades. Revue de Microphaléontologie 54(2): 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revmic.2011.03.001
Gerlach S. (1978). Food-chain relationships in subtidal silty sand marine sediments and the role of meiofauna in stimulating bacterial productivity. Oecologia 33: 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376996
Gomez E D, Aliño P M, Yap H T and Licuanan W Y. (1994). A review of the status of Philippine reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 29(1–3): 62–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/0025-326X(94)90427-8
Hallock, P. (2000). Larger foraminifera as indicators of coral-reef vitality. In R E Martin (ed.), Environmental micropaleontology. Topics in Geobiology, vol. 15. Boston, MA: Springer, 121–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4167-7_6
Hallock P, Lidz B, Cockey-Burhard E and Donnelly K. (2003). Foraminifera as bioindicators in coral reef assessment and monitoring: the FORAM index. Environment Monitoring Assessment 81: 221–238. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021337310386
Holzmann M, Gooday A J, Majewski W and Pawlowski J. (2022). Molecular and morphological diversity of monothalamous foraminifera from South Georgia and the Falkland Islands: Description of four new species. European Journal of Protistology 85: 125909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2022.125909
Horton B P, Culver S J, Hardbattle M I J, Larcombe P, Milne G A, Morigi C, Whittaker J E and Woodroffe S A. (2007). Reconstructing Holocene sea-level change for the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia) using subtidal foraminifera. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 37(4): 327–343. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.37.4.327
Korsun S, Hald M, Golikova E, Yudina A, Kuznetsov I, Mikhailov D and Knyazeva O. (2013). Intertidal foraminiferal fauna and the distribution of Elphidiidae at Chupa Inlet, western White Sea. Marine Biology Research 10(2).153–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2013.814786
Langer M and Gehring C. (1993). Bacteria farming: A possible feeding strategy of some smaller motile foraminifera. Journal Foraminifera Research 23(1): 40–46. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.23.1.40
Li T, Li X, Zhong H, Yang C, Sun G and Luo W. (2015). Distribution of trace metals and the benthic foraminiferal assemblage as a characterization of the environment in the north Minjiang River Estuary (Fujian, China). Marine Pollution Bulletin 90(1-2): 228–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.047
Li T, Xiang R and Li T. (2013). Benthic foraminiferal assemblages and trace metals reveal the environment outside the Pearl River Estuary. Marine Pollution Bulletin 75: 114–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.07.055
Lipps, J H. (1983). Biotic interactions in benthic foraminifera. In M J S Tevesz and P L McCall (eds.), Biotic interactions in recent and fossil benthic communities. Topics in Geobiology, vol. 3. Boston, MA: Springer, 331–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0740-3_8
Martinez-Colon M, Hallock P and Green Ruiz C R. (2009). Strategies for using shallow water benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of potentially toxic elements: A review. The Journal of Foraminiferal Research 39(4): 278–299. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.39.4.278
Mojtahid M, Jorissen F, Lansard B, Fontanier C, Bombled B and Rabouille C. (2009). Spatial distribution of live benthic foraminifera in the Rhône prodelta: Faunal response to a continental-marine organic matter gradient. Marine Micropaleontology 70: 177–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2008.12.006
Murray J W. (2006). Ecology and applications of benthic foraminifera. London: Cambridge Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535529
Padilla B J and Sutherland C. (2019). A framework for transparent quantification of urban landscape gradients. Landscape Ecology 34: 12191229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00858-z
Pruitt R, Culver S, Buzas M, Corbett D, Horton B and Mallinson D. (2010). Modern foraminiferal distribution and recent environmental change in Core Sound, North Carolina, USA. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 40: 344–365. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.40.4.344
Saraswat R and Nigam R. (2013). Benthic foraminifera. In S A Elias (ed.), The encyclopedia of quaternary science. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 765–774.
Schönfeld J. (2002). A new benthic foraminiferal proxy for near-bottom current velocities in the Gulf of Cadiz, Northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Deep Sea Research Part I Oceanographic Research Papers, 1853–1875. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(02)00088-2
Schönfeld J, Dullo W C, Pfannkuche O, Freiwald A, Rüggerberg A, Schmidt S and Weston J. (2011). Recent benthic foraminiferal assemblages from cold-water coral mounds in the Porcupine Seabright. Facies 57: 187–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-010-0234-0
Sumayao E, Bodanio C, Ecle N and Alejandro B. (2021). Water rivers run dry: The primary rivers of Bukidnon, Dinagat and Biliran Islands Philippines. Psychology and Education Journal 58(2): 10333–10337.
Takata H, Tanaka S, Seto K, Sakai S, Takayasu K and Khim B. (2014). Biotic response of benthic foraminifera in Aso-kai lagoon, central Japan, to changes in terrestrial climate and ocean conditions (~AD 700-1600). Journal of Paleolimnology 51: 421–435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-014-9764-8
Tsujimoto M, Kajikawa Y, Tomita J and Matsumoto Y. (2018). A review of the ecosystem concept: Towards coherent ecosystem design. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 136: 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.06.032
Wan W, Zhang Y, Cheng G, Li X, Qin Y and He D. (2020). Dredging mitigates cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic Lake Nanhu: Shifts in associations between the bacterioplankton community and sediment biogeochemistry. Environmental Research 188: 109799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109799