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Michael Martínez-Colón

Pollutants and Foraminiferal Assemblages in Jobos Bay and Torrecilla Lagoon: An Environmental Micropaleontological Approach. Michael Martínez-Colón. Introduction. OVER 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING…. 2000. 1950. Zalesny (1959) Watkins (1961) Seiglie (1964, 1968) (PR) Seiglie (1971, 1975) (PR).

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Michael Martínez-Colón

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  1. Pollutants and Foraminiferal Assemblages in Jobos Bay and Torrecilla Lagoon: An Environmental Micropaleontological Approach Michael Martínez-Colón

  2. Introduction OVER 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING… 2000 1950 Zalesny (1959) Watkins (1961) Seiglie (1964, 1968) (PR) Seiglie (1971, 1975) (PR) Banerji (1992) Alve (1995) Samir et al. (2001) Le Cadre & Debenay(2006)

  3. cont… ٤Estuaries receive 80%-90% of all waste released to marine environments, therefore are particularly vulnerable to heavy metal pollution. ٤Effects of pollutants: water quality diseases (flora/fauna) ABNORMALITIES INDIVIDUALS reduced survival rates ABUNDANCE DIVERSITY COMMUNITIES DISTRIBUTION human disease outbreaks

  4. Why Jobos Bay (JB)? *Sanitary/fluvial discharge and illegal dumps *Raw sewage discharge *Thermal pollution from Central Aguirre *Dust

  5. Why Laguna Torrecilla (TL)? *Sanitary/fluvial discharge and illegal dumps *Raw sewage discharge *Backwash from PR-aqueduct and sewer system *Backwash Sergio Cuevas treatmentplant

  6. Purposes To re-establish the use of foraminifera as pollutant bio-indicators in Puerto Rico by understanding their inter-relationship with heavy-metals in sediments and in culture experiments. To provide a baseline assessment and characterization of the present environmental conditions at JB and TL using benthic forams.

  7. Objectives to determine the distribution, bio-availability, and concentration of metals in sediments within JB and TL to determine if key identifiable foraminiferal assemblages are good tracers of pollutants on a spatial/temporal scale to determine specific morphological deformities induced by bio-available metals in controlled culture experiments

  8. Torrecilla Lagoon Jobos Bay Study Areas

  9. Preliminary Data from TL Sediments (cm) Mean grain size: mud (81%)

  10. Metals Cu values exceed the world's background values found in Shale (45ppm).

  11. Foraminifers < 16% deformity Mainly Triloculina spp. (98%)

  12. Proposed Methodology • Surface Samples: • JB- 46 • TL- 15 • Cores: • JB/TL- 2/2 • Foraminifers • ~300/sample • Grain Size Jobos Bay

  13. Proposed Methodology • Bulk Heavy Metal Concentration: • JB/TL- 32 elements/sample; almost • complete digestion; ACTLABS • Metal Bio-availability: • Partial digestion using 1M HCl • Heavy Metals in foraminiferal tests: • -Mn-coating removal • -Ultrasonic cleaning • -300 micro-gr sample size

  14. Proposed Methodology • TOC: • On all samples (JB/TL); Coulometric • Titration method • Cs-137 and Pb-210 dating: • On all sample cores; Low Energy Standard • Gamma Detector • Foram cultures: • Ammonia spp. • Amphistegina spp. • 3 replicates/experiment • 20 foraminifers/microcosm

  15. Shannon-Weiner Index: pi= proportion of the i-th spp. Equitability Index: S= # of spp. H(S)= Shannon-Weiner Index Proposed Data Analyses Fisher’s Index: N= # individuals S= # of spp. α= proportionality const.

  16. Foraminiferal Density: # individuals/gm. % Dominance: % abundance of foram species in a sample Simpson Index: measure of diversity. SHE Index: Proposed Data Analyses Species Richness: number of species/sample. Ammonia-Elphidium Index: [NA/(NA + NE)]*100 NA = number of Ammonia. NE = number of Elphidium.

  17. Adsorption Coefficient: Enrichment Factor: EF <1 = no enrichment EF >50 = extremely severe Geo-accumulation Index: Igeo <0 = non-contaminated Igeo >5 = highly contaminated Proposed Data Analyses

  18. PROPOSED TIME TABLE

  19. My thanks to: *Dr. Hallock (major advisor): for being a great mentor and for taking me under her wing *Dr. Green-Ruiz (co-major advisor): for providing guidance and feedback when I was just curious about this topic *Dr. Byrne: for your patience and insightful suggestions *Dr. Hastings: for your interest and analytical perspective *Dr. Flower: for your passion and interest in the paleoceanographic perspective of this work

  20. ¿PREGUNTAS?

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