Abstract
Marine caves are characterized by wide environmental variability for the interaction between marine and continental processes. Their conditions may be defined as extreme for inhabiting organisms due to the enclosed morphology, lack of light, and scarcity of nutrients. Therefore, it is necessary to identify reliable ecological indicators for describing and assessing environmental conditions in these habitats even more than elsewhere. This review aims to provide the state of art related to the application of benthic foraminifera as proxies in the (paleo)ecological characterization of different habitats of marine caves. Special attention was addressed to a research project focused on Mediterranean marine caves with different characteristics, such as extent, morphology, freshwater influence, salinity, sediment type, oxygenation, and organic matter supply. This review aims to illustrate the reliability of foraminifera as an ecological and paleoecological indicator in these habitats. They respond to various environmental conditions with different assemblages corresponding to a very detailed habitat partitioning. Because marine caves may be considered natural laboratories for environmental variability, the results of these studies may be interpreted in the perspective of the global variability to understand the environmental drivers of future changes in marine systems.
Highlights
This review aims to provide the state of art related to the application of benthic foraminifera as proxies in theecological characterization of different habitats of marine caves
This review aims to illustrate the reliability of foraminifera as an ecological and paleoecological indicator in these habitats
Marine caves, produced by the action of sea waves, consist typically of single chambers of limited development, opened to the sea; their later development often occurs through failure mechanisms, with the detachment of further masses of rocks from the cliffs, or through the opening of sinkholes at the surface, along the coast or in nearby areas [14,15,16,17,18], with sinkholes often providing the inland entrance to the system
Summary
Karst aquifers are among the most significant freshwater supplies for human consumption [1,2,3], with recent estimates indicating that over 9% of the global population is partly or entirely supplied by karst freshwater [4,5]. The world’s highest number of marine caves is formed through the flank margin cave model [33,34] This requires mixing freshwater with sea water and the effects of sea-level changes produced by glacio-eustatic or local causes, typically affecting eogenetic carbonates. Decay of the organic material enhances dissolution, which is further favored by superimposition over a short vertical distance of the mixing water zone along the coast As a whole, this allows for the development of flank margin caves [34,39] through a single formation event, without additional phreatic overprinting. About 4000 species of living benthic foraminifera (BF), mostly with a mineralized shell, have been described in ecological studies [63] They inhabit a wide range of aquatic environments, from the transitional to the deep-sea [64,65], and are generally abundant in sediments, where they typically constitute well-diversified assemblages. They are suitable for marine caves characterized by physical gradients (light, oxygen, salinity, etc.), a decreasing pattern of nutrients supply, and decrease in species richness and biomass of benthic organisms [76]
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