eEarth Discussions www.electronic-earth-discuss.net 1815-3836 1815-3844 3 1 2008 10.5194/eed-3-1-2008 http://www.electronic-earth-discuss.net/3/1/2008/ http://www.electronic-earth-discuss.net/3/1/2008/eed-3-1-2008.html http://www.electronic-earth-discuss.net/3/1/2008/eed-3-1-2008.pdf 1 9 2008-03-07 Zoogeography of the bottom Foraminifera of the West-African coast V. Mikhalevich mikha@JS1238.spb.edu Zoological Institute Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia The sediment samples from the continental shelf of West-Equatorial Africa (from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Niger estuary), depths ranging from 0 to 69 m were found to contain 176 bottom foraminiferal species. For the majority of them (126 species), their areas of occurrences were mapped and the peculiar features of the geographical range and distribution were studied. The species natural habitats were established based on the taxonomical revision of the species in study all over the World Ocean based on the collections of the Zoological Institute RAS and wide literary data. The method of perforated cards was used to mark the geographical locations of all of the species studied. In order to establish the species geographic zonal distribution (together with their depth habitat) the five characteristic groups of the species were separated: 1. pan-oceanic (cosmopolitan), 2. widely spread tropical-boreal, 3. tropical-law boreal, 4. tropical-subtropical, 5. tropical. The percent of the species of each group among the species composition was established for the fauna of each station and for the whole region. d'Orbigny, A.: Foraminiferes, in: Barker Webb Berthelot "Histoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries", 11, Pt. 2, Paris, 119–146, 1839. Ekman, S.: Zoogeography of the sea, London, 1–405, 1953. Ernst, S. R., Morvan, J., Geslin, E., Le Bihan, A., and Jorissen, F.J.: Benthic foraminiferal response to experimentally induced Erika oil pollution, Mar. Micropaleontol., 61(1–3), 76–93, 2006. Fontanier, C., Mackensen, A., Jorissen, F. J., Anschutz, P., Licari, L., and Griveaud, C.: Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of live benthic foraminifera from the Bay of Biscay: Microhabitat impact and seasonal variability, Mar. Micropaleontol., 58(3), 159–183, 2006. Ganssen, G.: The record of coastal upwelling in stable isotopes of modern foraminifera off NorthWest Africa, "Meteor" Forsch.-Ergebnisse, Reiche C., 37, 1–46, 1983. Golikov, A. N.: Mollusks, Fauna of the USSR, Proc. Zool. Inst. Acad. Sci. USSR, 5(1), nov ser., 85, 1–217, 1963. Gorodkov, K. B. and Trjapicin, V. A.: Opyt ispolzovanija perfokart ruchnogo obrastscheniya dlja issledovaniya po systematike paraziticheskich pereponchatokrylych semejstva Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera, Calcidoidae), Entomologicheskoe obozrenie, 4, 901–914, 1970. Gurjanova, E. F.: Zoogeographic zoning of the sea, Issledovanija fauny morej, Zoological institute Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 10(18), 8–21, 1972. Haake, F. W.: Bentische Foraminiferen in Oberflaechen-sedimenten und -kern des Ostatlantiks vor Senegal/Gambia (Westafrica), "Meteor" Forsch.-Ergebnisse, Reiche C., 32, 1–29, 1980. Jorissen, F. J., Witting, J. F., Peypouquet, J. P., Rabouille, C., and Relexans, J. C.: Live benthic foraminiferal faunas off Cape Blanc, NW-Africa: Community structure and microhabitats, Pergamon, Deep-Sea Res. Pt I, 45, 2157–2188, 1998. Jorissen, F. J. and Wittling, I.: Ecological evidence from live-dead comparisons of benthic foraminiferal faunas off Cape Blanc (Northwest Africa), Elsevier, Paleogeogr. Palaeoecl., 149, 151–170, 1999. Licari, L. and Mackensen, A.: Benthic Foraminifera off West Africa (10N to 320S): Do live assemblages from the topmost sediment reliably record environmental variability?, Elsevier, Mar. Micropaleontol., 55, 205–233, 2005. Lutze, G. F. and Coulbourn, W. T.: Recent benthic Foraminifera from the continental margin of Northwest Africa: community structure and distribution, Mar. Micropaleontol., 8, 361–401, 1983/1984. Martinez, P., Bertran, P., Shimmiel, G., Cochrane, K., Jorissen, F. J., Foster, J., and Dignan, M.: Upwelling intensity and ocean productivity changes off Cape Blanc (northwest Africa) during last 70 000 years: geochemical and micropaleontological evidence, Elsevier, Mar. Geol., 158, 57–74, 1999. Mikhalevich, V. I.: Donnye foraminifery shelfov tropicheskoj Atlantiki (in Russian), PhD thesis, 23 pp., Zoological Institut Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad, USSR, 1974. Mikhalevich, V. I.: Novyj rod I vid Foraminifer (Foraminifera, Textulariidae) u zapadnogo poberezhja Afriki, Vestnik zoologii, 1, 86–87, 1975. Mikhalevich, V. I.: Planktonic Foraminifera off the West coast of Africa, Issledovanija fauny morej, Zoological institute Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 18(24), 121–122, 1976. Mikhalevich, V. I.: New species of Foraminifera of the North-Western Coast of Africa, Issledovanija fauny morej, Zoological institute Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 21(29), 5–9, 1977. Mikhalevich, V. I.: The bottom foraminifera from the shelves of the Tropical Atlantic, , Zoological Institute of USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, 247 pp., 26 tables, 1983 in russian. Morogo, C., Jorissen, F. J., Gervais, A., Guichard, S., and Borsetti, A. M.: Benthic foraminiferal faunas in surface sediments off NW Africa: Relationship with organic flux to the ocean floor, J. Foramin. Res., 31(4), 350–368, 2001.