Distribution of recent benthic foraminifera off the North American Pacific coast from California to Baja

Related Titles

Series: Smithsonian contributions to the marine sciences, no. 28

By

Culver, Stephen J.

Buzas, Martin A.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Washington, D.C, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986

Notes

A computer file of all published distributional data (presence or absence) on the recent, living and dead benthic foraminifera off the North American Pacific Coast (California and Baja California) was constructed from 89 papers published since 1896. Manipulation of this file produced 5 catalogs and 131 maps.Catalog 1 lists alphabetically species names with publication and locality information as recorded in the literature (i.e., unsynonymized). Catalog 2 lists synonymized species names with publication and locality information. Catalogs 3 and 4 list alphabetically all unsynonymized and synonymized species names, respectively. Catalog 5 lists synonymized names by increasing latitude and longitude.During the past 90 years, 1117 names have been used to record benthic foraminifera in the study area. Through synonymization, this number was reduced to 798, of which 130 occur at 35 or more of the 875 sample localities. Computer-generated maps were drawn for the 130 most commonly recorded species.Species were grouped by depth and geographic (latitudinal) distributions through visual examination of the maps. Sixty-five species are restricted to depths of less than 200 m, 45 occur mainly at depths of less than 2000 m, 2 only at depths of greater than 200 m, and 18 are ubiquitous with depth. The depth distribution for many species changes with latitude, but this may be due to a poor sampling framework.Latitudinally, the species are grouped into seven categories. Forty-two species are latitudinally ubiquitous to the study area (Cape Mendocino to Cape San Lucas and the Gulf of California), 52 species occur from Point Conception to Cape San Lucas and in the Gulf of California, 5 species range from Point Conception to Punta Eugenia and are also found in the Gulf of California, 5 species occur from Cape San Lucas to Punta Eugenia and in the Gulf of California, 5 species range from Cape Mendocino to Cape San Lucas, 10 species range from Cape Mendocino to Punta Eugenia, and 11 species occur from Point Conception to Punta Eugenia. A major faunal break occurs at Point Conception.

Subjects

California , Foraminifera , Geographical distribution , Mexico , Pacific coast

Language

English

Identifiers

LCCN: https://lccn.loc.gov/86600087
OCLC: 13395842