Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Foraminifera as Ecosystem Indicators: Phase 1. A Marine Benthic Perturbation Index; Phase 2. Bioassay Protocols
EPA Grant Number: R825869Title: Foraminifera as Ecosystem Indicators: Phase 1. A Marine Benthic Perturbation Index; Phase 2. Bioassay Protocols
Investigators: Muller, Pamela Hallock
Institution: University of South Florida
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: October 1, 1997 through September 30, 2002
Project Amount: $295,043
RFA: Ecosystem Indicators (1997) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Aquatic Ecosystems
Objective:
The objective of this research project was to develop protocols for routine use of foraminifera (marine protists) as indicators of environmental conditions that support coral reef communities and reef accretion. Deterioration of coastal environments, and coral reefs in particular, is an issue of scientific and public concern both nationally and worldwide. Two major problems in addressing this issue are the lack of historical data for comparison with modern conditions, and the lack of bioindicators that can be used to test the effects of environmental stresses. Foraminifera, which are the most abundant shelled organisms worldwide, have a long history of use by geologists as indicator organisms in studies of environmental changes in the fossil record. These protists are by far the most useful group of paleoenvironmental indicators utilized by geoscientists because: (1) their shells are important sediment constituents; (2) they are small and widely abundant; (3) different taxa have evolved to exploit most environments, substrates, and nutritional modes in marine systems; and (4) their shells morphologically and geochemically record environmental conditions. Culture and field studies of living foraminifera have documented responses to environmental stresses, including changes in temperature, salinity, pH, and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), as well as to nutrification, eutrophication, heavy metals, and biologically damaging ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.
In Phase 1, a single-metric index for assessing decline of reef ecosystems, based on changes in key taxa of foraminifera, was evaluated using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for ecological indicators. A CD-based user's manual also was developed in Phase 1. This index provides a metric for assessing how reef communities have changed under human influence, as compared to the natural variability in preanthropogenic times or in unaffected areas. In Phase 2, protocols were defined for use of foraminifera in laboratory studies of the effects of key stressors in reef environments, particularly bleaching resulting from light and temperature stress.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Phase 1: Foraminifera as Bioindicators in Coral-Reef Environments
Three techniques, which utilize foraminiferal shells and the sediments in which they occur, have been developed to assess reef condition on different time scales. They are:
(1) The FORAM Index, a single-metric index for general reef condition on the scale of months to years, based on total foraminiferal assemblages. The index has been assessed using EPA Evaluation Guidelines for Ecological Indicators (Hallock, et al., 2003), and further tested in Biscayne Bay, FL (Hoare, 2002) and Glovers Atoll, Belize (Jacukiewicz, 2002). A CD-based users manual (Crevison and Hallock, 2002) has been developed to support the use of the FORAM Index by researchers and coastal zone managers in assessing western Atlantic and Caribbean reefs. The CD also provides a library of key taxa and an extensive list of references.
(2) A second procedure, which is based on reef sediments and the same ecological concepts as the FORAM Index, can assess general condition of reef ecosystems, on the scale of years, relative to community structure and bioerosion (Lidz and Hallock, 2000).
(3) A third procedure assesses present reef condition (days to weeks) using densities and visual assessments of live Amphistegina, which are the most common larger foraminifera on reefs worldwide (Hallock, 2001; Williams, 2002).
Phase 2. Laboratory Protocols
Amphistegina spp. are the most common reef-dwelling foraminifera with algal endosymbionts worldwide, providing a model "calcifying symbiosis" for testing stressors that threaten the ecological integrity of coral-reef ecosystems (Hallock, 2000). Known stressors include temperature, salinity, light, and increasing UV-B radiation associated with ozone depletion. Protocols for assessing visual, physiological, and cytological responses for assessment of field populations and laboratory experiments have been developed (Talge, 2002; Williams, 2002; Talge and Hallock, submitted; Williams, et al., in revision).
Conclusions:
- Foraminiferal assemblages are sensitive indicators of environmental change in tropical coastal environments.
- The FORAM Index is a low-cost, low-technology metric for assessing if environmental conditions are suitable for coral-reef accretion on times scales of months to years.
- Sediment analysis provides a technique for assessing community structure in tropical coastal environments on time scales of years to decades.
- The abundance and condition of Amphistegina populations in reef environments provides a method for assessing environmental conditions on time scales of days to months, and provides reef managers with a method for distinguishing between local- and global-scale impacts.
- All three procedures can be used independently, at the same time, or in conjunction with other assessment and monitoring efforts.
- All three procedures can be applied in developing countries, where technological resources are limited, but skilled technicians are available.
- The FORAM Index, including a CD-based users manual, is available to be utilized in western Atlantic and Caribbean coastal zone assessment and monitoring.
- Sediment analysis and Amphistegina population analysis procedures are available for use in ecological assessments, but require further evaluation and development to provide single-metric indices.
- Bleaching in reef-dwelling foraminifera is related to light stress and relatively is independent of temperature.
- Shorter wavelengths of light can induce detectable bleaching in A. gibbosa at intensities that produce optimum growth rates.
- Bleaching induced by light stress in the laboratory is cytologically indistinguishable from bleaching in field-collected specimens.
- Bleaching-stressed foraminifera are susceptible to predation, shell breakage, and infestation by cyanobacteria, epibionts, and microboring organisms.
- Similarities between bleaching and related symptoms in Amphistegina populations worldwide, and bleaching and emerging diseases in reef-building corals, provides evidence that increased biologically damaging ultraviolet radiation, which is the result of stratospheric ozone depletion, has played a significant role in the dramatic decline in coral reefs during the past 25 years.
- Additional research on the combined effects of ozone depletion and global warming on coral reef communities is strongly recommended.
Journal Articles on this Report : 10 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 62 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 10 journal articles |
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Fujita K, Hallock P. A comparison of phytal substrate preferences of Archaias angulatus and Sorites orbiculus in mixed macroalgal-seagrass beds in Florida Bay. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 1999;29(2):143-151. |
R825869 (1999) R825869 (2000) R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Hallock P. Symbiont-bearing foraminifera: harbingers of global change. Micropaleontology 2000;46(Suppl 1):95-104. |
R825869 (1999) R825869 (2000) R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Hallock P, Lidz BH, Cockey-Burkhard EM, Donnelly KB. Foraminifera as bioindicators in coral reef assessment and monitoring: the FORAM Index. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 2003;81(1-3):221-238. |
R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Hallock P, Barnes K, Fisher EM. Coral-reef risk assessment from satellites to molecules: a multi-scale approach to environmental monitoring and risk assessment of coral reefs. Environmental Micropaleontology, Microbiology and Meiobenthology 2004;1:11-39. |
R825869 (Final) |
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Holzmann M, Hohenegger J, Hallock P, Piller WE, Pawlowski J. Molecular phylogeny of large miliolid foraminifera (Soritacea Ehrenberg 1839). Marine Micropaleontology 2001;43(1-2):57-74. |
R825869 (2000) R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Lidz BH, Hallock P. Sedimentary petrology of a declining reef ecosystem, Florida reef tract (U.S.A.). Journal of Coastal Research 2000;16(3):675-697. |
R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Pawlowski J, Holzmann M, Fahrni JF, Hallock P. Molecular identification of algal endosymbionts in large miliolid foraminifera: 1. Chlorophytes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 2001;48(3):362-367. |
R825869 (2000) R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Talge HK, Hallock P. Ultrastructural responses in field-bleached and environmentally stressed Amphistegina gibbosa (class foraminifera). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 2003;50(5):324-333. |
R825869 (Final) |
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Toler SK, Hallock P, Schijf J. Mg/Ca ratios in stressed foraminifera, Amphistegina gibbosa, from the Florida Keys. Marine Micropaleontology 2001;43(3-4):199-206. |
R825869 (2001) R825869 (Final) |
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Williams DE, Hallock P. Bleaching in Amphistegina gibbosa d'Orbigny (class foraminifera): observations from laboratory experiments using visible and ultraviolet light. Marine Biology 2004;145(4):641-649. |
R825869 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
sediments, stratospheric ozone, marine, estuary, ecological effects, coral reefs, Caribbean, Florida Keys, Florida, FL., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecology, Hydrology, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, exploratory research environmental biology, Environmental Chemistry, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecological Indicators, ecological exposure, anthropogenic stresses, foraminifera, marine ecosystem, algae, coral reefs, stressors, benthic biota, ecosystem indicators, soil, aquatic ecosystemsRelevant Websites:
http://www.marine.usf.edu/reefslab Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.