Foraminifera as bioindicators in coral reef assessment and monitoring: the FORAM Index. Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring

Coral reef communities are threatened worldwide. Resource managers urgently need indicators of the biological condition of reef environments that can relate data acquired through remote-sensing, water-quality and benthic-community monitoring to stress responses in reef organisms. The FORAM (Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring) Index (FI) is based on 30 years of research on reef sediments and reef-dwelling larger foraminifers. These shelled protists are ideal indicator organisms because: Foraminifers are widely used as environmental and paleoenvironmental indicators in many contexts; Reef-building, zooxanthellate corals and foraminifers with algal symbionts have similar water-quality requirements; The relatively short life spans of foraminifers as compared with long-lived colonial corals facilitate differentiation between long-term water-quality decline and episodic stress events; Foraminifers are relatively small and abundant, permitting statistically significant sample sizes to be collected quickly and relatively inexpensively, ideally as a component of comprehensive monitoring programs; and Collection of foraminifers has minimal impact on reef resources.USEPA guidelines for ecological indicators are used to evaluate the FI. Data required are foraminiferal assemblages from surface sediments of reef-associated environments. The FI provides resource managers with a simple procedure for determining the suitability of benthic environments for communities dominated by algal symbiotic organisms. The FI can be applied independently, or incorporated into existing or planned monitoring efforts. The simple calculations require limited computer capabilities and therefore can be applied readily to reef-associated environments worldwide. In addition, the foraminiferal shells collected can be subjected to morphometric and geochemical analyses in areas of suspected heavy-metal pollution, and the data sets for the index can be used with other monitoring data in detailed multidimensional assessments.     

砗磲生长的影响因素及其人工培养研究进展

砗磲是世界上最大的双壳贝类,与虫黄藻共生,生长过程中受到多种自然环境因素的影响。近年来,由于人类的过度捕捞,砗磲数量骤减,对砗磲进行人工培养、繁育、放流,成为砗磲保护的重要工作之一。此外,砗磲碳酸盐壳体还是一种良好的高分辨率古气候研究载体,但其壳体地球化学指标的环境指示意义还存在较大争议,实验室培养也是探讨砗磲地球化学指标环境指示意义的有效途径之一。基于上述原因,近年来有不少研究开展了砗磲的培养试验,通过改变培养条件分析各种环境因子对砗磲生长及壳体地球化学特征的影响。本文就砗磲的培养方法、人工培养条件进行简要综述,并从温度、光照、盐度、p CO2、营养盐、金属离子等多个方面对人工培养条件下,砗磲生长的影响因素及其生理适应性机制进行总结分析,为后续砗磲的培养保护和地球化学研究提供参考。