FORAMINIFERAL DISTRIBUTION AND ASSOCIATION PATTERNS IN THE MANGROVE SEDIMENTS OF KAPAR AND MATANG, WEST PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

Twenty-eight foraminiferal species (15 families and 24 genera) were identifed from the mangrove surface sediment samples at Kapar and Matang on the West coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The calcareous forms, particularly Ammonia beccarii and Buccella frigida, were found to be the characteristic of Kapar sediments, whereas agglutinated species like Arenoparrella mexicana and Haplophragmoides wilberti dominated the Matang environment. Based on faunal abundance (roottransformed data), three species’ groupings were distinguished from the Kapar and Matang samples. Group-1 (with two sub-groups) dominated by Ammotium fragile, A. salsum, Miliammina fusca and Reophax moniliformis was found to be representative of Kapar, whereas Group-2 dominated by A. mexicana and H. wilberti was found to be representative of Matang. Group-3 was eventually separated from the Kapar (i.e. Group-1) due to the presence of A. beccarii and B. frigida which prefer nearshore/seaward areas with high salinity. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) indicated that (relatively) high salinity (30‰), pH (8), and sandy texture (70%) with low total organic carbon (TOC) (10%), characteristic of Kapar sediments, supported the distribution of A. fragile, A. salsum, M. fusca, R. moniliformis, A. beccarii and B. frigida, while a high composition of clay (31%) and TOC (30%) supported A. mexicana and H. wilberti (Matang) species. Overall, the distribution of foraminiferal species was locally governed by two different environmental settings prevailing at Kapar and Matang.