Benthic foraminifera indicate environmental stress from river discharge to marine ecosystems: Example from the Black Sea

Abstract

The focus of this research was to investigate how the Danube River discharge influences environmental conditions and benthic ecosystems on the Black Sea shelf using foraminifera to delineate affected areas. Specific goals included: (1) to examine the taxonomic composition, quantitative distributions, and test morphologies in foraminiferal assemblages; (2) to correlate them with environmental (oceanographic, geochemical, sedimentological) parameters; (3) to identify the main factors associated with changes in foraminiferal distributions; and (4) to identify assemblages and species that indicate environmental changes along the gradient from delta front to unaffected shelf.