Ecological Archives E093-011-A1

S. Uthicke, F. Patel, and R. Ditchburn. 2012. Elevated land runoff after European settlement perturbs persistent foraminiferal assemblages on the Great Barrier Reefs. Ecology 93:111–121.

Appendix C (Table C1). General Characteristics of sediments and foraminiferal assemblages of 13 sediment cores from the Whitsunday area of the Great Barrier Reef. OC: organic carbon, IC: inorganic carbon, TN total; nitrogen in the sediments. FORAM index is an indicator for nutrient status on coral reefs, based on the relative abundance of “symbiont-bearing”, “opportunistic” and “heterotrophic” taxa (Hallock et al. 2003). Sample size indicates the total number of foraminifera picked from the respective core slice and identified. The densities are expressed as the total number of foraminifera per g sediment (dry weight). Age groups represent conservative groupings of the core sections into six time periods, based on 137Cs, 210Pb analyses of sediments and 14C analyses of foraminifera.

Island
(Date)
Core
no.
Depth
(cm)
OC
(%)
IC
(%)
TN
(%)
Sample
Size
Foram
Index
Density
(Ind. g Sed. -1)
Age group
(yr)
InnerReefs
Long Island

10/01/2008
2 surface 0.62 7.24 0.09 217 2.04 175 < 55
   0–10 NA NA NA 214 1.61 173 < 55
  10–20 NA NA NA 255 1.67 327 < 55
  30–40 NA NA NA 226 1.58 263  55–150
  50–60 NA NA NA 651 1.78 155 150–500
  70–80 NA NA NA 257 1.82 756  500–1000
   90–100 NA NA NA 338 2.05 91  500–1000
  110–120 NA NA NA 221 2.38 884 1000–1500
  130–140 NA NA NA 360 1.76 168 1000–1500
  150–155 NA NA NA 217 1.88 1119 > 1500
Long Island

11/01/2008
3 surface 0.43 8.67 0.05 215 2.01 155 < 55
   5–15 0.36 7.56 0.05 233 1.79 204 < 55
  15–25 0.37 7.81 0.04 255 1.68 230  55–150
  35–45 0.31 7.62 0.04 318 1.90 222 150–500
  65–75 0.32 6.55 0.04 243 1.69 136  500–1000
  85–95 0.31 6.22 0.03 269 1.74 390  500–1000
  105–115 0.32 6.6 0.04 235 1.70 143 1000–1500
  125–135 0.31 6.79 0.04 920 1.81 168 1000–1500
  135–145 0.3 7.11 0.03 235 1.89 137 > 1500
Lindeman
Island

16/01/2008
8 surface 0.35 8.05 0.05 263 3.02 470 < 55
  10.0–20.0 0.3 7.07 0.03 403 2.52 458 < 55
  30–40 0.24 7.61 0.03 588 3.57 199  55–150
  50–60 0.28 6.04 0.03 234 3.17 183  55–150
  70–80 0.24 6.42 0.03 347 2.59 171 > 1500
  80–87 NA NA NA 197 3.10 100 > 1500
Lindeman
Island

16/01/2008
9 surface 0.42 7.01 0.05 451 2.99 490 < 55
  10–20 0.42 6.38 0.05 875 2.54 833 < 55
  30–40 0.33 7.07 0.04 664 2.80 588  55–150
  50–60 0.31 6.63 0.03 265 3.23 520  55–150
  70–80 0.31 6.42 0.04 268 3.19 506 > 1500
   90–100 0.31 6.23 0.03 439 3.42 85 > 1500
  100–110 0.27 6.86 0.03 258 2.87 142 > 1500
Outer Reefs
Edward
Island

13/01/2008
4 surface 0.4 8.46 0.06 290 5.63 274 < 55
  20–30 0.35 9.13 0.05 239 5.76 145 < 55
  40–50 0.29 8.68 0.04 272 5.02 252  55–150
  60–70 - - - 235 5.94 301  55–150
  80–90 - - - 460 6.81 138  500–1000
Edward
Island

15/01/2008
7 surface 0.20 10.21 0.03 229 6.56 301 < 55
  10–20 0.16 10.31 0.03 675 6.79 137 < 55
  30–40 0.21 9.74 0.03 275 6.48 165 < 55
  50 to 60 0.17 9.85 0.03 226 7.02 174  55–150
  70–80 0.18 9.6 0.03 233 6.27 181  55–150
  90 to 100 0.21 9.29 0.03 220 6.35 196 1000–1500
  110–120 0.16 9.49 0.02 210 6.17 134 1000–1500
  130–140 0.27 8.1 0.04 944 5.61 288 1000–1500
Deloraine
Island

13/01/2008
5 surface 0.18 10.77 0.03 201 7.75 291 < 55
  10–20 0.22 10.28 0.03 237 6.41 382 < 55
  30–40 0.22 10.11 0.03 263 6.03 487 150–500
  50–60 0.27 9.34 0.03 214 7.04 363 150–500
  70–85 0.22 10.05 0.03 348 6.92 250 150–500
Deloraine
Island

17/01/2008
11 surface 0.28 10.22 0.04 321 6.70 406 < 55
  10–20       484 7.06 86 < 55
  30–40 0.3 8.96 0.04 232 5.28 322 150–500
  50–60 0.27 9.27 0.03 282 6.34 271 150–500
  70–80 0.18 10.02 0.02 227 5.20 329 150–500
   90–100 0.21 10.23 0.02 220 4.78 268  500–1000
Intermediate
Reefs Dent
Island

14/01/2008
6 surface - - - 213 3.06 47 < 55
   0–10 0.18 7.7 0.03 274 2.39 44 < 55
  10–20 - - - 211 1.97 113 < 55
  20–30 0.54 5.47 0.05 248 1.83 435  55–150
  30–40 - - - 218 1.78 2057  55–150
  40–50 0.48 6.42 0.05 332 1.89 697  55–150
  60–70 0.21 8.25 0.03 226 1.91 106 150–500
  80–90 0.19 8.26 0.02 200 1.93 93 > 1500
  100–110 0.16 8.13 0.02 224 2.26 249 > 1500
Double Cone
Island

15/02/2008
12 surface 0.22 8 0.03 217 3.82 193 < 55
   0–10 - - - 317 3.84 254 < 55
  10–20 0.2 9.02 0.02 274 2.45 723 < 55
  20–30 - - - 245 3.46 302  55–150
  40–50 0.17 8.78 0.02 250 3.21 523 150–500
  60–70 0.20 8.49 0.02 203 3.11 294 1000–1500
   90–100 0.21 8.52 0.03 250 2.40 484 1000–1500
  110–120 0.19 7.67 0.02 216 2.12 643 1000–1500
Daydream
Island

16/02/2008
12b surface 0.26 7.41 0.04 297 5.19 281 < 55
   0–10 - - - 549 1.90 692 < 55
  10–20 - - - 261 3.40 252 < 55
  20–30 - - - 274 2.50 373 < 55
  30–40 0.28 6.78 0.04 195 2.68 464 < 55
  50–60 0.25 6.74 0.03 236 2.39 389  55–150
  70–80 0.24 8.2 0.03 275 2.43 241  500–1000
   90–100 0.14 7.12 0.02 225 2.52 253 1000–1500
  110–120 0.14 6.67 0.02 253 2.26 327 1000–1500
 

[Back to E093-011]