Coastal marine management is vital for socio-ecological sustainability of developing, tropical ecosystems, which calls for diverse tools to monitor and assess water quality. The carbonate-dominated habitats off Zanzibar were chosen for study due to potential water quality degradation in a rapidly developing tourist destination heavily reliant on its coral reefs. These reefs are largely unmoni-tored and subject to local and global stressors. A widely used method for assessing reef health, as an early detection method of ecological changes, is the application of large benthic foraminiferal bioindica-tors, i.e., the FoRAM Index. We expected to find poor water quality conditions in the unmanaged reefs supported by stress-toelerant (opportunistic) foraminiferal assemblages. The dissolved inorganic nitro-gen and phosphate values derived from untreated sewage effluent from Stone Town were highly vari-able (ranging 0.05–3.77 and 0.05–1.45μM, respectively), moderate, and occasionally approached or ex-ceeded critical threshold values for oligotrophic ecosystems. The analysis of total assemblages indicated an abundance of symbiont-bearing large benthic foraminifera, dominated by prolific Amphistegina spe-cies, comparatively low-moderate diversity, high FI values (7.6 on average), and high coral cover. A wa-ter quality gradient was reflected by subtle assemblage differences, suggesting that LBF can provide early warning signals of benthic changes, indicating the importance of long-term monitoring programs in vulnerable, rapidly developing coastal ecosystems exposed to increasing pressures.

Gita R.Narayan;Natalia Herrán;Claire E.Reymond;Yohanna W.Shaghude;Hildegard Westphal

Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research(ZMT),Bremen,Germany;Department of Geosciences,Bremen University,Bremen,Germany;Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research(IOW),18119 Rostock,Germany;School of Earth Sciences,China University of Geosciences,Wuhan 430074,China;School of Geosciences,The University of Sydney,Sydney NSW 2006,Australia;Institute of Marine Sciences(IMS),The University of Dar es Salaam,Zanzibar,Tanzania;King Abdullah University of Science and Technology(KAUST),Thuwal,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

地球科学学刊（英文版）

[1]Gita R.Narayan;Natalia Herrán;Claire E.Reymond;Yohanna W.Shaghude;Hildegard Westphal-.Local Persistence of Large Benthic Foraminifera (LBF) under Increasing Urban Development:A Case Study from Zanzibar (Unguja), East Africa)[J].地球科学学刊（英文版）,2022(06):1434-1450

Foraminifera,Zanzibar,Unguja,unmoni,tored,bioindica,FoRAM,toelerant,symbiont,Amphistegina

Local,Persistence,Large,Benthic,LBF,under,Increasing,Urban,Development,Case,Study,from,East,Africa,Coastal,marine,management,vital,socio,ecological,sustainability,developing,tropical,ecosystems,which,calls,diverse,tools,water,quality,carbonate,dominated,habitats,off,were,chosen,study,due,potential,degradation,rapidly,tourist,destination,heavily,reliant,its,coral,reefs,These,are,largely,subject,local,global,stressors,widely,used,method,assessing,health,early,detection,changes,application,benthic,foraminiferal,tors,Index,We,expected,find,poor,conditions,unmanaged,supported,by,opportunistic,assemblages,dissolved,inorganic,nitro,gen,phosphate,values,derived,untreated,sewage,effluent,Stone,Town,highly,vari,ranging,respectively,moderate,occasionally,approached,ceeded,critical,threshold,oligotrophic,analysis,total,indicated,abundance,bearing,prolific,cies,comparatively,low,diversity,FI,average,cover,gradient,was,reflected,subtle,differences,suggesting,that,can,provide,warning,signals,indicating,importance,long,term,monitoring,programs,vulnerable,coastal,exposed,increasing,pressures

0.613644