Work

Modern Benthic Foraminiferal Diversity: An Initial Insight into the Total Foraminiferal Diversity along the Kuwait Coastal Water

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Kuwait territorial water hosts an important part of national biodiversity (i.e., zooplankton and phytoplankton), but very limited information exists on the overall diversity of benthic foraminifera. On the basis of the integration of publications, reports and theses with new available data from the Kuwait Bay and the northern islands, this study infers the total benthic foraminiferal diversity within Kuwait territorial water. This new literature survey documents the presence of 451 species belonging to 156 genera, 64 families, 31 superfamilies and 9 orders. These values are relatively high in consideration of the limited extension and the shallow depth of the Kuwait territorial water. Kuwait waters offer a variety of different environments and sub-environments (low salinity/muddy areas in the northern part, embayment, rocky tidal flats, coral reef systems, islands and shelf slope) that all together host largely diversified benthic foraminiferal communities. These figures are herein considered as underestimated because of the grouping of unassigned species due to the lack of reference collections and materials, as well as the neglection of the soft-shell monothalamids (‘allogromiids’).

Source: Diversity

DOI: 10.3390/d12040142

Authors: Eqbal Al-Enezi, Sawsan Khader, Eszter Balassi, Fabrizio Frontalini

Institutions: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait University, University of Urbino

Language: English

Topic: Marine Biology and Ecology Research

Subfield: Oceanography

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,479