Environmental quality status evaluation based on multiple proxies of the estuarine system of Santos, São Paulo, over the last century

Abstract

In the last decades, due to the intense industrialization, the Baixada Santista has become a widely populated and exploited place of the state of São Paulo and has undergone a marked process of environmental degradation. Benthic foraminifera have been widely applied to environmental assessment in transicional systems, since they reflect natural and anthropogenic events that occurred in these regions. In this work, the main objective is the paleoenvironmental reconstruction in the last century of the Santos Estuary, aiming to distinguish the pre-industrial and post-industrial phases in this region. For this purpose, a core will be analyzed, promoting to distinguish historical processes that affected the region. Among the biotic parameters, ecological indexes can be applied in the data analysis, such as, density, diversity, richness, equitability and Ecological Quality Status (EcoQS). Also, statistical analysis will be performed to correlate biotic and abiotic data.