Species Composition and Distribution of Benthic Foraminifera at Pandan Beach and Trombol Beach, Sarawak
Foraminifera are single-cell protists that can be found abundantly at all marine environment. This group of organism is widely use as biological indicator for the marine environment and also plays important role in marine food web. Foraminifera had been reported as the main diet found in the gut o...
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS)
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8279/1/Nursuhada.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8279/ |
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| Summary: | Foraminifera are single-cell protists that can be found abundantly at all marine environment. This group of
organism is widely use as biological indicator for the marine environment and also plays important role in
marine food web. Foraminifera had been reported as the main diet found in the gut of razor clam (Solen
regularis). Pandan beach and Trombol beach were chosen as study sites in order to differentiate the benthic
foraminifera community structure between the non-razor clam habitat and razor clam habitat. Samplings
were carried out on 16 and 18 January 2014. Sediment samples were taken for benthic foraminifera and
sediment particle analyses along line transects placed across the intertidal zone. Simultaneously, the physicochemical
parameters of water (salinity and pH) and sediment temperature were recorded. The chamber
arrangement and aperture position were used for identifying the species. In this study, a total of 15 species of
benthic foraminifera were found, in which 9 species were recorded at Pandan beach and 13 species at
Trombol beach. This showed that razor clam habitat has more benthic foraminifera species compared to nonrazor
clam habitat. Asterorotalia sp. was the most abundant species present at both study sites, while
Textularia sp. was the rare species found in this study. The species diversity at Trombol beach was higher
compared to Pandan beach. Pearson correlation analyses also showed that the distribution of benthic
foraminifera was significantly influenced by the sediment fractions which are fine sand at Pandan beach and
very fine sand at Trombol beach. |
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