Living Foraminifera in a Brazilian Subtropical Coastal Environment (Flamengo Inlet, Ubatuba, São Paulo State–Brazil)

Abstract

The aim of the present study is determine living (Rose Bengal stained)foraminifera fauna in the Flamengo Inlet, a subtropical inlet placed inUbatuba a city from Sao Paulo State in Brazil. The inlet was sampledduring the 2010 austral summer (March): 34 surface sediment samples werecollected with a Van Veen grab sampler. Faunal analysis followedstandard procedures, where a fixed volume of 50 cm 3 of sediment waswashed through sieves with 0.50 and 0.062 mm openings and the livingplus dead fauna were picked out.The living foraminifera fauna of the study area among all the sampleshas a total of 32,002 specimens and is composed mainly by calcareoustaxa. The main species found are Buliminella eligantissima, Ammoniabeccarii, Brizalina striatula and Nonionella atlantica, all of which arecalcareous and very frequent in coastal areas. The Flamengo Inlet has atypical foraminiferal fauna to subtropical coastal environments, withhigh values of diversity, evenness, abundance and richness revealingthat the inlet is not strongly affected by severe anthropogenic impacteven though the stations near some marinas, at the inner portion knownas ``Saco do Ribeira,{''} showed the lowest abundance and richnessvalues.