Foraminifera in microtopographic transects at the Itapanhaú River mangrove, Bertioga (SP): ecological patterns as reference for reconstructions of the relative sea level

Abstract

Intertidal foraminifera have been successfully used for monitoring the relative sea-level all around the world. Nevertheless, the achievement of this task demands the establishment of recent foraminiferal associations related to altimetric intervals and respective flooding frequency. Thus, the present project goal to study the community structure of foraminifera in terms of diversity and species composition, collected in samples from microtopographically controlled transects in mangroves of the Rio Itapanhaú estuary, Bertioga (SP, Brazil), distributed in salinity and flooding frequency gradients. We are going to seek ecological patterns that may cooperate for the establishment of micropaleontological references for monitoring the relative sea-level during the Holocene, in the São Paulo state coast.