Analyzing seasonal variations in benthic foraminifera in Budd Inlet, Puget Sound, Washington, U.S.A.

Abstract

Coastal and estuarine pollution has been a growing concern within this century. Benthic foraminifera have been commonly used as a bioindicator for waterway pollution because of their abundance, diversity, and relatively short lifespans. Researchers have found test abnormalities among benthic foraminifera in Budd Inlet in Puget Sound. Test abnormalities have typically been found in environments with high levels of heavy metals in the waterways often near anthropogenic sources of pollution. This thesis aims to document winter population diversity, abundances, and percentages of mutation of foraminifera in Budd Inlet, and compare them with past collections from summer months. The results of this study showed that the foraminifera from the summer season was much more abundant than the winter foraminiferal population. There were no test abnormalities in West Bay and East Bay and there were very few in Priest Point. Comparisons of the living and the dead assemblages documented much higher diversities in dead vs living populations, indicating different species must inhabit the region in either the fall or spring seasons as they have not been observed in the living populations collected in the winter or summer. These results suggest a significant gap in our understanding of foraminiferal ecology leading to future projects in the Puget Sound.