Monsoon-Related Flux in Inter-tidal Foraminiferal Diversity in the West Coast of India

Subhadra Devi Gadi, Rajashekar K Patil

Abstract


Studies on paleomonsoons rely on fossil foraminifera (forams) of sea bed core samples. While the stable isotopesof ctl"bon and oxygen of foram shells are predominantly analysed, fluxes in foramilliferal assemblage in response tomonsoons are not well rccorded. To asses such fluxes at the level of the taxon as well as individual spccies, a studyof inLer-tidal foraminiferal diversity was undertaken over a period of 18 months, from OctobC'r 2()04 to March 2006.at an estuarine and a non- estuarine site on the west coast of India. Well-defined seasonality w.'1S SC(,1\ both in live(LFN) and total foraminiferal number (TFN). The LFN and TFN reached a peak after SW monsoons with a lag ofabout three months. Population denSity. species richness and Shannon diversity indices of for:tms decline duringsummer and are lowest duritlg monsoon. Several dominant species show seasonal fluxes wilh decrl'ase in densityduring monsoon and peaks following post-monsoon. The density of angular, asymmetric forams increases duringpost-monsoon period. Fluxes in foram diversitycorrelate significantly with hydrological and solimentcharacteristicsaffected by monsoon. Fnrams showed sigltificant (0.01 level) positive con'e1alion wilh calcium and pH levels. It islikely that organic matler and phosphate enrichment due to monsoon and ocean upwell ing increases I"oram densi ty.These observations are useful in proxy validation of core sample data aimed at deducing paleomonsoons andpaleoclimate.

Keywords


Diversity Flux, Biodiversity indices, Morphogroups, Species Assemblage, Sediment, Hydrology

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