New records of benthic foraminifera in the surface sediments of the Dulas Bay saltmarsh in North Wales, UK

We investigated the community composition of benthic foraminifera in surface sediments taken from 14 sample sites in the saltmarshes of the Dulas Bay Estuary in North Wales (UK). Constrained cluster analyses determined that the composition and richness of benthic foraminiferal species in our study area were dominated by calcareous species in mud and sandy sediments and that their vertical distribution was constrained by elevation, which is consistent with reports from other latitudinally similar saltmarsh habitats. The exceptionally low proportion of morphological abnormalities in the foraminiferal tests that we sampled suggests that the Dulas Bay Estuary is a pristine unpolluted environment. New micropaleontological occurrence records for the Dulas Bay Estuary are presented, which will be useful for reconstructing Holocene relative sea-level changes and contribute to global databases: PANGAEA® Data Publisher.

本研究针对英国北威尔士杜拉斯湾河口盐沼的14个采样点位采集的表层沉积物，开展了底栖有孔虫（benthic foraminifera）群落组成分析。本研究通过约束聚类分析（constrained cluster analyses）发现，研究区内底栖有孔虫的物种组成与丰富度以泥质、砂质沉积物中的钙质类群为主，其垂向分布受高程制约，该结果与其他纬度相似盐沼生境的相关研究报道一致。本次采集的有孔虫壳体中，形态畸形个体占比极低，表明杜拉斯湾河口属于原生未受污染的环境。本研究报道了杜拉斯湾河口的新增微古生物出现记录，这些记录可用于重建全新世相对海平面变化，并将被纳入全球数据库PANGAEA®数据出版平台（PANGAEA® Data Publisher）。