St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Size matters : analyses of benthic foraminiferal assemblages across differing size fractions

Thumbnail
View/Open
LoGiudiceCappelli_2019_FMS_Sizematters_CC.pdf (205.6Kb)
Date
10/12/2019
Author
Lo Giudice Cappelli, Elena
Austin, William E. N.
Keywords
Benthic foraminifera
Shell size
Assemblages
Environmental reconstructions
Standard protocol
QH301 Biology
DAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are the object of numerous studies spanning from (palaeo)environmental reconstructions to biomonitoring; however, the establishment of a procedure to standardize these studies remains a recent achievement. Not all studies based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages adopt the same methodology, which potentially hinders the use and comparison of samples prepared prior to the creation of a standard protocol or, indeed, without the knowledge of it. One of the main issues is to understand and possibly quantify the influence of different size fractions on foraminiferal biodiversity and richness. In this study, we analyzed benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the west coast of Shetland (Scotland), which were deliberately prepared without following the standard procedure, and were instead picked from the size fractions 63–150 μm and >150 μm. Based on assemblage composition, biodiversity indices and multivariate analyses of the data, we assessed the quality and precision of the environmental information that could be extrapolated from these samples. We found that general biodiversity trends remain the same regardless of size fraction, whereas the assemblage internal composition is significantly different between size fractions, with the small fraction retaining a greater degree of environmental sensitivity. We recommend compiling the two sample sets to produce a more holistic and detailed picture of environmental change and generate high-resolution environmental reconstructions. Nevertheless, we conclude that benthic foraminiferal assemblages picked from the large size fraction (>150 μm) still provide useful information on prevailing environmental conditions and remain useful for an overview of environmental change in these coastal settings.
Citation
Lo Giudice Cappelli , E & Austin , W E N 2019 , ' Size matters : analyses of benthic foraminiferal assemblages across differing size fractions ' , Frontiers in Marine Science , vol. 6 , 752 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00752
Publication
Frontiers in Marine Science
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00752
ISSN
2296-7745
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019 Lo Giudice Cappelli and Austin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Description
This project was supported by the BBSRC/NERC (ref. BB/M026620/01).
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/19108

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter