Abstract
We investigated the living (stained) and dead benthic foraminiferal assemblages collected in surface sediment samples (0–1 cm) from two different areas (JOIDES Basin and Mawson Bank) of the Ross Sea (Antarctica). Samples were collected during the BEDROSE oceanographic cruise from January to February 2017. Four living and dead benthic foraminiferal fauna assemblages have been distinguished based on cluster analysis. The differences observed in the living and dead foraminiferal content from the two investigated areas are the result of taphonomic processes induced by the different oceanographic settings and environmental conditions. In the JOIDES Basin, agglutinated taxa Rhabdamminella cylindrica, Lagenammina difflugiformis, Adercotryma glomeratum, Recurvoides contortus, Reophax subfusiformis with high percentages of Trochammina group and Reophax spiculifer associated with the calcareous species Nonionella bradii and Astrononion echolsi characterize the living assemblages. The comparison between living and dead benthic foraminifera reveals considerable similarities in terms of the presence/absence of agglutinated species and differences in relative abundance of calcareous taxa. However, the major influencing factor in foraminiferal preservation appears to be the carbonate dissolution. Results from Mawson Bank show an almost exclusive presence of calcareous taxa with high percentages of Globocassidulina group in both living and dead assemblages. The dead fauna assemblage differs from the corresponding living assemblage by being more diverse documenting high-energy current influence on marine sedimentation.
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There is no restriction on data availability. The data are availables in the present manuscript as Supplementary Materials (ESM_1, ESM_2, ESM_3). The investigated samples are stored at the ISMAR Institute and can be required in agreements with the project leader and the authors, following the data policy of the project.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Captain, crew and scientific team of the XXXII Italian expedition in Antarctica with the R/V Italica. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewer for his suggestions on how to improve the paper. We are also grateful to Wojciech Majewski, Marco Taviani and Andrea Argnani for their careful reading. Many thanks to Editor in Chief Vincenzo Aquilanti for his valuable comments. Thanks to Quantarctica Project and the Norwegian Polar Institute for morphological map.
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This study is part of the BEDROSE (BEnthic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of the Deep ROss SEa in a changing Southern Ocean) project supported by the Italian National Program of Research in Antarctica (PNRA) (P.I. Roberto Danovaro). This is the contribution no. 2031 of Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR).
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CL conceived the original idea and wrote the paper. Foraminiferal analysis were performed by CL and statistical data processing were made by BS. LL provided the samples and interpreted geochemical data, BG provided and interpreted oceanographic parameters and GP carried out the grain size analyses. All authors contributed to the discussion of the results and provided critical feedback. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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12210_2020_949_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx
Supplementary file1 ESM_1 Relative abundance (%) of the living and dead agglutinated and calcareous benthic foraminifera in all investigated replicas. Biodiversity indices (H and D) are reported (XLSX 14 kb)
12210_2020_949_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx
Supplementary file2 ESM_2 CTD data of Temperature (°C), Fluorescence (µg/l), Salinity (PSU), Oxygen (mg/) and Density from the investigated sites (B and C) (data used for Fig. 2a) (XLSX 73 kb)
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Capotondi, L., Bonomo, S., Budillon, G. et al. Living and dead benthic foraminiferal distribution in two areas of the Ross Sea (Antarctica). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 31, 1037–1053 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00949-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00949-z