Observational study reveals sediment texture dictates foraminiferal community composition in coastal marine habitats, highlighting their utility for environmental assessment.
Key Points
To determine the influence of sediment texture on the diversity, community composition, and distribution of benthic foraminifera across contrasting coastal environments in Bangladesh.
Collected 34 sediment samples along land-sea transects across three distinct coastal zones in Bangladesh: Cox’s Bazar, Kuakata, and the Sundarbans.
Quantified foraminiferal species assemblages, ecological diversity indices, and sediment granulometric characteristics.
Evaluated associations between sediment texture and community structure using Spearman's rank correlation, canonical correspondence analysis, and two-way PERMANOVA.
Cox’s Bazar fine-to-medium sand hosted the highest foraminiferal diversity, Kuakata mixed sediments showed moderate diversity, and Sundarbans fine sediments exhibited the lowest diversity.
Two-way PERMANOVA and canonical correspondence analysis confirmed sediment category is a significant, geographically consistent driver of foraminiferal assemblage composition.
Stress-tolerant taxa predominated in the fine-grained, low-energy mangrove settings of the Sundarbans.