Recent marsh Foraminifera from the east coast of South America: comparison to the northern hemisphere.

SCOTT, DAVID B., SCHNACK, ENRIQUE J., FERRERO, LAURA, ESPINOSA, MARCELA A., BARBOSA, CATIA F.

Tubingen, Germany

Workshop; International Workshop on Agglutinated Foraminifera; 1989

NATO Advanced Study Institute Programme

A large body of information exists on marsh foraminifera of North America but until now few quantitative studies had been done at corresponding latitudes in the southern hemisphere. To remedy this situation, we sampled six marshes along the eastern coast of South America from Tierra del Fuego (54ºS) to Guaratuba, Brazil (25ºS). The southernmost area corresponds in latitude to work done in Hudson- James Bay with Polysaccammina ipohalina and Trochammina inflatadominating high marsh areas. In the Brazilian marsh, which is in the southernmost limit of mangroves, the fauna is similar to that found in the Mississippi Delta marshes, at approximately the same latitude north. Species here include Haplophragmoides wilberti and Arenoparrella mexicana. This study ilustrates that marsh foraminifera do respond to latitudinal gradients in both hemispheres of the Americas.