biofacies and palaeoecology of the limestone of the jahrum formation in the lar area in the southwest of iran (zagros basin) is addressed in this paper. our detailed analysis of biofacies and palaeoecology shows that the jahrum formation in the studied area were deposited in a carbonate open shelf dominated by heterozoan and, subordinately, photozoan skeletal assemblages. based on analysis of l...

the coastal areas are highly productive system that is degrading due to receiving huge amount of various pollutants. despite of the important of north caspian sea estuaries the quality index of benthic fauna received less attention. in this survey the benthic population of 18 rivers estuaries in southern caspian sea were investigated. the benthic sampling and identification were conducted at ei...

A multimetric benthic assessment method was developed for two benthic assemblages in the San Francisco Estuary (USA) using data from several monitoring programs collected over five years. Assessment indicators used were total number of taxa, total abundances, oligochaete abundances, number of molluscan taxa, number of amphipod taxa, and Capitella capitata and Streblospio benedicti abundances. E...

Female mate preferences for ecologically relevant traits may enhance natural selection, leading to rapid divergence. They may also forge a link between mate choice within species and sexual isolation between species. Here, we examine female mate preference for two ecologically important traits: body size and body shape. We measured female preferences within and between species of benthic, limne...

We measured monthly dissolved oxygen (DO) changes in situ benthic incubations from March 2001 to October 2002 in a Posidonia oceanica meadow and unvegetated sediments of Magalluf Bay (Mallorca Island, Spain) to determine gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (R), and net community production (NCP). From June 2001 to October 2002, we also measured fluxes of dissolved inorganic ca...

Coral mass-spawning represents a spectacular annual, short-term, fertilization event of many oligotrophic reef communities. The spawning event in 2005 at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, was followed by an intense bloom of benthic dinoflagellates. Within a day from the first observed spawning, the primary production of the water column and the benthic compartment increased by factors of 4 and ...

Extensive network of tile drains present in the Midwest USA accelerate losses of nutrients to receiving ditches, rivers and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Nutrient inputs from agricultural watersheds and their role in affecting water quality have received increased attention recently; however, benthic sediment-nutrient interactions in tile-fed drainage ditches is still a matter of active res...

This study evaluated the ability to improve Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) chl-a retrieval from optically shallow coastal waters by applying algorithms specific to the pixels' benthic class. The form of the Ocean Color (OC) algorithm was assumed for this study. The operational atmospheric correction producing Level 2 SeaWiFS data was retained since the focus of this study was o...

Biological response and ecological indices of benthic communities, such as greater mortality of foraminifera and shell abnormalities, have been used to document pollution effects on ecosystems. Shadegan Wetland was damaged from a deposition of huge amounts of soot and products of burning oilwells of Kuwait as well as chronic exhaust fumes of refinery and industrial furnaces. In this investigati...

Seafloor organisms are vital for healthy marine ecosystems, contributing to elemental cycling, benthic remineralization, and ultimately sequestration of carbon. Deep-sea life is primarily reliant on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the surface ocean for food, but most ocean biogeochemistry models predict global decreases in export flux resulting from 21st century anthropogenic...