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An abstract of the article "The Soils of Argentine Islands: Diversity of Organic Matter on the Edge of Life," by Iryna Kozeretska et al is presented.

EcoQS assessment of the marine intertidal zone based on its fauna is challenging because the assemblages have a low diversity and consist of stress tolerant species. The new approach we propose is to pool foraminiferal diversity (effective number of species exp(H' bc )) across the whole intertidal zone including the salt marsh and tidal flat. In seven fjordheads studied in northern Fennoscandia, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations indicated low levels of pollution (EcoQS PAH Excellent to Moderate). Jadammina or Balticammina dominated the salt marsh, Elphidium albiumbilicatum, Elphidium williamsoni, Elphidium clavatum, and Buccella frigida occurred in the tidal flat. Ovammina opaca thrived in both belts. While foraminiferal test abnormalities are often proposed to measure pollution impacts, we did not detect any correlation with PAHs. EcoQS based on foraminiferal diversity (EcoQS foram Excellent to Good) matched EcoQS based on PAHs suggesting that pooled foraminiferal diversity reliably measures intertidal EcoQS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The article presents a microphotograph dataset of 106 taxa of benthic foraminifera (BF) from surface sediments collected at 26 grab station during RV Akademik Ioffe 51st cruise (summer 2016). The selected stations are located along a 59.5°N transect in the North Atlantic. This is the key area of climate control, where the interaction of warm surface and cold deep water masses takes place, which affects the operation of the global oceanic thermohaline circulation. The analysis of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages allows us to describe the properties of bottom water mass, to draw conclusions about the environmental parameters at the bottom. This photo dataset will facilitate the identification of species of BF, and thus will accelerate the routine process of micropaleontological analysis and the subsequent reconstruction of environmental conditions., (© 2019 The Authors.)

Current 'Atlantification' of the Arctic Ocean affects benthic communities leading to the changes in their structure and abundance. Such areas as Svalbard that are seasonally affected by Atlantic and Arctic water masses may give a possibility to preliminary estimate the response of benthic communities to short-term environmental changes and to evaluate their sensitivity. We have sampled Kongsfjorden for modern benthic foraminifera in three different seasons. The record includes data on the abundances of benthic foraminiferal species in the surface sediments (0-2cm). This data gives an insight into the seasonal dynamics of the near-glacial foraminiferal community of Kongsfjorden.

Glaciers in the fjords of Svalbard have been receding over last decades. Tempelfjorden, a typical glaciated fjord in West Spitsbergen (78°24'06″ N, 17°02'30″ E), has been sampled in summer 1995 and 2001-2007 for modern benthic foraminifera. We have normalized the abundances and unified the taxonomy of all these published and unpublished data sets and then compiled the record of foraminiferal assemblages changing over years into a comprehensive database. The record includes data on living and dead abundances of benthic foraminiferal species in the surface sediments (0-2 cm) and downcore abundances of living foraminifera (only for 2004). This database portrays benthic foraminifera, this key group of microfossils, in a gradually changing Arctic environment.

Current ecological conditions in the regions of Bol'shoi Keretskii raid and Glubokaya Salma (Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea) were evaluated on the basis of structural and dynamic indices of the upper sediments in the context of specific composition of the benthic foraminiferal community. The distribution of the main species of living foraminifers was determined for the shallow and deep-sea groups. The relationship between populations of the most abundant species of living benthic foraminifers and hydrolytic enzyme activities providing for destruction of bottom organic matter at biochemical rates has been revealed.