Reconstruction of climate-induced environmental changes in the eastern Gulf of Mexico based on foraminifera sediment assemblages

摘要: Foraminifera assemblages are powerful bioindicators of environmental change and were analyzed in a sediment core collected from the Marquesas Keys, located in the southwestern region of the Florida Keys. The composition and abundance of foraminifera tests within the top 85 cm of the sediment core, dated with 14C and 210Pb, revealed changes in foraminifera assemblages in 1990 CE, 1939 CE, and 1872 CE. Based on the ecological preferences of the dominant species, changes in salinity and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) cover may have influenced foraminifera species composition. These changes were likely caused by variation in precipitation patterns in the eastern Gulf of Mexico region associated with shifts in the major ocean-atmosphere teleconnections such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) along with tropical …