FORAMINÍFEROS DE MANGUEZAIS ASSOCIADOS AO ESTUÁRIO DO RIO MAPARI, MUNICÍPIO DE HUMBERTO DE CAMPOS (MA): BASES ECOLÓGICAS PARA A SUSTENTABILIDADE AMBIENTAL.

Abstract

Intertidal foraminifera are widely recognized as efficient tools for reconstructing Holocene sea-level changes. They are also used to detect water circulation patterns and to diagnose the physical and chemical characteristics of estuarine water, revealing the steady state of the ecosystem. In this work, surface sediment samples were collected to study recent foraminiferal assemblages in an estuarine portion of the Mapari river basin, Humberto de Campos (MA), Brazil, in two ways: (1) sixteen samples collected landwards along a mangrove transect in the Gato Island, near the mouth of the Mapari river, in the Tubarão Bay, from the tidal muddy flat to the hyperhaline bare flat ( apicum ); (2) nineteen samples collected upstreamwards along the Mapari river, from the Gato Island to the Rampa settlement, where salinity is zero. In the Gato Island transect, salinity and pH were measured and the subaerial exposure time (TES) was calculated for each point. Height and DBH were also measured for the main arboreous individuals. The salinity varied from euhaline to hyperhaline (maximum of 56 ), and demonstrated no relation to TES. It was observed the dominance of Rotaliina suborder almost all along the transect, which means that a vertical zonation of foraminiferal assemblages was not found. However, eight of the sixteen points were collected surrounding a meanderin tidal creek that follows the transect. Considering just these eight points, there is a zonation in two compartments: a lower compartment that groups six samples (TES varying from 36,46% to 58,51%), dominated by Elphidium gunteri, and an upper compartment that groups two samples (TES varying from 61,95% to 75,27%), dominated by Arenoparrela mexicana. In the Mapari river, salinity and pH were measured in surface and bottom water column, and the floristic composition of the channel margins was verified, with special attention to the species of Rhizophora genus. These species have a distribution related to the salinity gradient, that varied from freshwater to euhaline. Four ecofacies were defined: (1) ecofacies 1, that groups the six closest samples to the Tubarão Bay, with polyhaline-euhaline salinity, high diversity index (H ranging from 1,44 to 2,23 and D ranging from 0,48 a 0,69), with dominance of Elphidium gunteri and Nonion sp., significant presence of Ammonia tepida, Quinqueloculina seminulum and Arenoparrela mexicana, and almost exclusive dominance of Rhizophora mangle; (2) ecofacies 2, that groups the next five samples upstreamwards, with mesohaline-polyhaline salinity, dominance of Nonion sp. and E. gunteri, and coexistence of R. mangle, R. harrisonii and R. racemosa; (3) ecofacies 3, that groups five samples with salinity varying from freshwater to mesohaline, wide dominance of Miliammina fusca, with mangrove fringe dominated by R. harrisonii and R. racemosa; (4) ecofacies 4, that groups the three upstream samples, in freshwater environment, where foraminifera are virtually absent. The results corroborate that foraminiferal assemblages can be used as an efficient tool for recognizing the steady state of the complex estuarine environment, where abiotic parameters are highly variable.