Pollution Monitoring of Bagnoli Bay (Tyrrhenian Sea, Naples, Italy), a Sedimentological, Chemical and Ecological Approach L

Pollution monitoring of Bagnoli Bay (Tyrrhenian Sea, Naples, Italy), a sedimentological, chemical and ecological approach L. Bergamin, E. Romano,∗ M. Celia Magno, A. Ausili, and M. Gabellini Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientiﬁca e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare (ICRAM), Via di Casalotti 300, Roma, 00166 Italy ∗Corresponding author: Fax: +39.06.61561906; E-mail: [email protected]

Many studies ﬁnalised to a reclamation project of the industrial area were carried out on the industrial site of Bagnoli (Naples). Among these studies, the sedimentological, chemical, and ecological characteristics of marine sediments were analysed. Seven short cores, located in the proximity of a steel plant, were analysed for grain- size, polychlorobiphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals. As well, benthic foraminiferal assemblages were investigated. Sediment pollution was mainly due to heavy metals; in particular,copper,mercury and cadmium showed a ‘spot’ (site-speciﬁc) distribution, while iron, lead, zinc and manganese showed a diffuse distribution, with a gradual decrease of concentration from coast to open sea. Heavy metals pollution seems to explain some of the variation in the foraminiferal abundance. The combined copper and iron contamination might be the cause for the complete absence of foraminifera in the four shallower cores. Moreover, the ratio between normal and deformed specimens of Miliolinella subrotunda and Elphidium advena could be indicative of heavy metal pollution. In particular, Miliolinella subrotunda could be a potential bioindicator for copper pollution, since the abundance of irregular specimens of this species could be related to copper concentrations.

Keywords: steel plant, foraminifers, heavy metals, bioindicators

Introduction In the context of the wide interdisciplinary research, a study on seven short cores from the inner shelf, in A recent law (decree n.468/2001—National the proximity of the Bagnoli plant, was carried out. program of remediation and environmental recovery), They were analysed for grain size, polychlorobiphenyls promoted by the Ministry of Environment of Italy, (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and focused attention on the contamination determined heavy metals (Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb by the presence and the activity of some disused and Zn). In addition, qualitative and quantitative studies heavy industrial plants located near the Italian coast. of benthic foraminiferal assemblages were performed. Such a law requires a complete environmental study The aim of this research is a preliminary characteri- before the start of a reclamation project on the marine sation of marine sediments through the analysis of sed- polluted area. A multidisciplinary approach is neces- imentological, chemical and ecological features. The sary to evaluate the chemical-physical and ecological response of individual foraminifera was investigated characteristics of marine sediments in order to plan in order to evaluate the impact of pollution on the the reclamation. The Bagnoli steel plant was the sea-bottom ecological health and to identify possible object of the ﬁrst research; the related characterisation bioindicators. survey was considered as pilot research for all the Foraminifers are protozoans that belong to contaminated Italian sites. phylum of Reticulosa (reticulopodial amoebae)

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Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 8(3):293–302, 2005. Copyright C 2005 AEHMS. ISSN: 1463-4988 print / 1539-4077 online DOI: 10.1080/14634980500220866

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(Cavalier-Smith, 1993). Most benthic foraminifers in sites contaminated by heavy metals pollution (Alve, have a mineralised, calcareous or arenaceous, shell or 1991a; Sharifi et al., 1991; Yanko et al., 1994). Most ‘test’ that has a high fossilisation potential. recently, the interest of researchers has been focused on Benthic foraminifers are recognised as useful tools the correlation between specific alterations and single in pollution monitoring because they are ubiquitous in pollutants (Yanko et al., 1998; Alve and Olsgard, 1999; coastal marine environments and they are very sensi- Samir and El-Din, 2001). In cases of moderate pollu- tive to environmental changes, to which they respond tion, percentages of abnormal tests do not exceed the in short periods owing to their brief life-cycle (few natural background, but the distribution of some toler- weeks-some months). The analysis of the foraminiferal ant pioneer species shows a strong correlation with one assemblages may be conducted on a statistical basis, or several contaminants (Debenay et al., 2001). using small sediment samples. Consequently, a study may be conducted on samples from cores, which of- The study area fer a picture of environmental evolution (Yanko et al., 1999). The study area is included in the eastern part of the The first research on foraminifers as related to pol- Gulf of Naples (Southern Italy), located between Nisida lution were conducted in the early 1960s (Watkins, Island and the town of Bagnoli. It belongs to the Phle- 1961). In the last decade a great number of studies grean Fields volcano-tectonic system (Figure 1a,b). have reported effects of many types of pollutants on The geology is very dynamic and related to intense the structure and composition of benthic foraminiferal and relatively recent volcanic activity. Bradyseismic assemblages and on the morphology of tests. Chemical movements, land and underwater gas emissions are as- pollution may determine a decrease of species diver- sociated to the volcanic activity. The Pozzuoli Gulf is an sity and faunal density. Frequent aberrant specimens area of recent volcanic collapse (12–10 kyr BP), char- and/or assemblages with stunted specimens were found acterised by four morpho-structural units: the coastal

Figure 1. a) Gulf of Naples with the main lithological types (after Scandone et al., 1991, simpliﬁed); b) Bagnoli Bay: location map of sampling sites c) Bagnoli beach: the eastern part of the steel plant.

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shelf (up to 50 m depth), a central collapse area, the Table 1. Geographic location of cores and depths of overlying water. volcanic submarine banks (Nisida, Penta Palummo and Miseno Banks) and the external shelf (De Pippo et al., CORE Latitude Longitude Water depth 1984). F1 40◦48.670 N 14◦09.880 E 1.2 m Sediments from Bagnoli were recognised to reflect F3 40◦48.630 N 14◦09.850 E 4.4 m the industrial activity in the region due to the high G4 40◦48.489 N 14◦09.610 E 12.2 m concentrations of Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb and Zn found in H4 40◦48.300 N 14◦09.630 E 17.2 m the littoral areas, near industrial centres (Damiani et al., R1 40◦48.320 N 14◦10.310 E 3.0 m 1987). Industrial and agricultural activity is also re- T1 40◦48.180 N 14◦10.330 E 2.5 m flected through elevated concentration of PCBs, PAHs T3 40◦48.201 N 14◦10.068 E 7.2 m and DDT. Sharp and Nardi (1987) found anomalous high values for Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn mainly between the two long piers of the Bagnoli ficulty of sampling by hand the sandy sediment in the plant. A correlation analysis revealed the presence of sub-marine environment. two major suites of associated elements: the first one Granulometric parameters, heavy metals (Al, As, is constituted by Pb, Cd, Zn, As, Cu, Co and Ag and Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn), 15 PAHs and the second one by Ni, Cr, Co and Ag. The authors esti- PCBs were determined for all the samples. Samples −1 mated for this area a sedimentation rate of 0.4 cm y , for grain-size analysis were treated with a 30% H2O2 deducing that the time of maximum pollution occurred solution and separated by wet sieving. The >0.063 mm about 70 years ago. fraction was dried and fractionated by ASTM series The industrial activity of the steel plant started in sieves, while the lower fraction was analysed by X-ray 1905 and high steel production levels were maintained sedigraph (Romano et al., 1998). They were classified from 1913 to 1943 (Figure 1c). In 1930 two long piers according to Shepard (1954). were built in order to allow the berthing of large tonnage Heavy metal analyses were performed on aliquots boats. At the northern pier, raw materials such as fossil of whole homogenised sample and analysed by Atomic coal and iron ores were discharged while at the south- Absorption Spectrometry according to Giani et al. ern one, finished products were loaded on boats. In- (1994). dustrial production was interrupted from 1943 to 1946 Analyses of PAHs were performed by a preliminary due World War II activities. In the early 1960s, con- extraction and successive purification on silica gel; the taminated soil from the industrial area was used to fill determination by high performance liquid chromotog- part of the sea stretch between the two piers to allow for raphy with spectrofluorimetric detector was carried out widening and the development of the industrial activ- (Ausili et al., 1998). Determinations of PCBs were by ity. Consequently, the natural coastline was altered and preliminary extraction and subsequent purification by the new spaces so obtained were utilised for the con- Florisil R . The determination was carried out by ECD struction of industrial buildings and the storage of coal. gas chromatograph. From the comparison of bathymetric maps of different For foraminiferal analyses, the seven cores were di- historical periods it may be deduced that the sea-bottom vided into 5 cm thick (F1, H4, T1) or 3 cm thick (F3, morphology, especially near the piers, was modified by G4, R1, T3) samples (bottom samples were thicker the fall of materials during loading and unloading op- in some cases). The samples were washed through erations (Abbate et al., 1998). In 1990, industrial pro- 125 µm screen and dried at 40◦C. All samples were duction ceased. subjected to qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed only on three cores (G4, H4, T3) in which the faunal density was sufficiently high. Sam- Materials and methods ples from these cores were split into fractions contain- ing about three hundred specimens, which were picked Seven cores (F1, F3, G4, H4, R1, T1 and T3) were and identified following the generic classification of taken in September 1999 by a scuba diver using a PVC Loeblich and Tappan (1988). liner with 6 cm internal diameter. The location of the The results of the quantitative analyses were sub- sampling site was determined by Global Positioning jected to statistical analyses using the program SPSS System (Table 1). Two separate replicas were taken for version 10.1. Q-mode Hierarchical Cluster Analysis chemical-physical and foraminiferal analyses. The two (HCA) was performed on samples in which at least replicas generally had different length, due to the dif- 300 benthic specimens were counted in the >125 µm

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fraction. The original matrix included the 123 species cause no correspondence was found in neighbouring recognised in all the samples of cores G4, H4 and T3. cores. Given the high number of species identified, it was nec- The PCB concentrations were in the range of essary to reduce the number of variables in order to Mediterranean coastal areas subjected to antrophic im- obtain a significant statistical analysis. In order to sim- pact (UNEP,1996). In spite of this, such values may be plify the matrix, some species were grouped on the considered medium-high in relation to the grain-size basis of their taxonomy, when they had homogeneous of sediment samples (Table 2). In cores F1, H4 and environmental significance (e.g., Bulimina spp., Quin- R1 high values were recorded in the top samples, de- queloculina spp.) so that only species or groups more creasing towards the bottom of the core. Low values abundant than 10% in at least one sample were con- are present in the cores T1 and T3. sidered for the statistic analyses. For HCA, distance is The heavy metals analysed, Cd, Cu, Hg Pb and Zn given in percentage by the Euclidean equation, while showed high values, if compared with average values the similarities of the new fused clusters are calculated for Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian areas (UNEP, 1996; with the Average Linkage method (within group), the Romano et al., 1998). The highest concentrations were most widely used in statistical ecology (Pielou, 1984; located in the marine area in front of the industrial Parker and Arnold, 1999). site (Table 2). In particular, Cu, Hg and Cd showed For each sample, species diversity was quantified ‘spot’ distribution, while Fe, Pb, Zn and Mn had a more through the α-index (Fisher et al., 1943) and benthic regular distribution, with decreasing values from the productivity was estimated through the Benthic Num- plant to the open sea (Romano et al., 2004). The highest ber (BN) > 125 µm (i.e., the number of foraminifers Cu concentration occurred in core T1; cores F1, F3 and counted in1gofdrysediment >125 µm), as reported R1 show the highest Fe contamination, while cores H4 in Coccioni (2000). and R1 show the highest Zn contamination. Results Benthic foraminiferal data Grain-size and chemical data We identified 123 foram species: 3 Textulariina, 20 Milioliina and Rotaliina. Cores F1, R1 and T1 were The cores were mainly constituted of sand; in cores completely barren of benthic foraminifers. All sam- F3 and H4 there were significant percentages of fine ples of core F3 contained a few tests per gram of such fraction (silt + clay). In both these cores, a decrease species as Quinqueloculina seminulum, Q. dimidiata, in the sandy fraction from top to bottom was recorded Ammonia parkinsoniana and Neoconorbina terquemi, (Figure 2). but it was impossible to carry out a quantitative analy- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations sis. Nevertheless, the topmost sample seemed slightly recorded in the present study were high, if compared richer in foraminifers than those further down. with the Mediterranean values reported by UNEP Foraminifer data from cores G4, H4 and T3 were (1996). In particular, very high values were found in subjected to HCA (Figure 3). In the dendrogram, some levels of the F1 and F3 cores (Table 2). They each cluster included samples with similar assem- probably correspond to casual and local episodes be- blages corresponding to somewhat homogeneous ecological conditions. The dendrogram shows that, with rare exceptions, the three main clusters represented the three cores; cores H4 and T3 show little similar- ity, while core G4 seems somewhat related to the other two. Samples of core H4 showed a high degree of sim- ilarity, marked by low values of Euclidean distance, and contained an assemblage dominated by Quinque- loculina spp. (mainly Q. dimidiata and, secondarily, Q. parvula and Q. bosciana). Among the Milioliina, Miliolinella subrotunda was steadily abundant at the 8to10% range. Among the Rotaliina, Tretomphalus concinnus and Haynesina depressula were also abun- Figure 2. Results of grain size analyses. dant. The presence of Bulimina aculeata (up to 14%), a

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Table 2. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic biphenyls and heavy metals in core sediments.

PCBs PAHs As Cd Cr Cu Hg Mn Ni pp Zn µgkg−1 mg kg−1 Al mg kg−1 mg kg−1 mg kg−1 mg kg−1 Fe mg kg−1 Mg kg−1 mg kg−1 mg kg−1 mg kg−1 Sample d.w. d.w. % d.w. d.w. d.w. d.w. % d.w. d.w. d.w. d.w. d.w. F1 0–5 35.16 0.773 3.0 n.d. 0.36 37 10 17.9 0.51 1688 0.82 207 337 F1 0–10 127.66 0.149 3.2 54.4 0.57 25 17 20.7 n.d. 1220 n.d. 189 293 F1 10–20 96.28 0.165 3.9 41.1 0.90 26 18 25.7 n.d. 1696 n.d. 170 371 F1 20–29.7 31.40 2.423 2.5 40.8 0.22 29 11 39.0 n.d. 1778 n.d. 184 406 F3 0–10 36.28 0.989 4.1 34.3 0.80 33 22 32.8 0.19 1472 10.44 149 359 F3 10–20 45.98 6.139 4.3 36.4 2.07 23 31 31.3 0.49 420 6.39 n.d. 669 F3 20–30 28.43 0.287 5.7 33.4 1.17 22 23 36.9 0.25 592 7.61 n.d. 508 F3 30–42 91.87 7.476 3.2 69.4 3.65 13 70 31.2 2.51 1180 <0.01 n.d. 2834 G4 0–10 17.10 0.130 4.4 78.1 0.32 27 14 17.4 0.61 1144 8.11 97 243 G4 10–24 35.90 0.148 6.1 157.5 1.07 27 21 16.8 0.46 1028 2.67 174 307 H4 0–10 103.52 1.145 2.8 36.1 0.48 14 51 11.1 0.86 5947 19.81 n.d. 2313 H4 10–20 78.13 0.482 5.0 53.8 1.68 18 37 31.2 0.91 3497 7.18 n.d. 2241 H4 20–30 38.80 0.961 4.2 32.8 0.29 10 65 14.6 0.66 643 50.74 n.d. 1162 H4 30–40 61.64 0.426 3.6 30.2 0.91 8 97 17.7 1.47 249 46.26 n.d. 1773 H4 40–46 41.41 0.510 3.3 70.1 2.87 6 110 14.6 1.92 2144 45.48 n.d. 2054 R1 0–10 91.14 0.262 4.7 42.3 1.28 19 177 33.7 0.89 974 14.51 n.d. 1987 R1 10–20 46.89 0.373 7.7 46.1 1.00 24 163 36.0 2.83 1006 5.82 n.d. 2022 R1 20–30 40.19 0.166 5.9 39.7 1.07 13 131 33.6 0.56 620 6.67 n.d. 1323 R1 30–47 26.79 0.346 7.1 43.2 1.52 18 126 44.5 0.54 810 11.68 n.d. 2231 T1 0–5 44.15 0.147 2.4 n.d. 0.79 34 260 10.6 0.87 1072 < 0.01 356 824 T1 0–10 21.19 0.191 4.4 57.7 1.17 19 352 8.2 n.d. 640 n.d. 195 574 T1 10–20 19.58 0.092 3.4 33.4 0.76 10 428 5.5 n.d. 542 n.d. 113 395 T1 20–30 12.24 0.101 4.2 60.7 0.57 30 187 10.9 n.d. 805 n.d. 205 774 T1 30–40 8.89 0.086 3.3 59.7 2.23 26 266 9.0 n.d. 706 n.d. 261 799 T1 40–50 7.66 0.047 3.9 56.9 0.65 37 182 7.8 n.d. 646 n.d. 227 674 T1 50–63.5 6.71 0.008 3.2 40.3 <0.01 5 850 4.0 n.d. 435 n.d. 47 42 T3 0–5 33.40 0.036 4.7 39.7 0.45 34 28 9.7 0.70 1309 8.05 100 536 T3 0–10 12.51 0.031 4.3 47.9 0.23 24 18 7.8 n.d. 991 n.d. 261 315 T3 10–20 16.48 0.039 3.4 42.7 0.07 23 23 8.2 n.d. 786 n.d. 160 307 297 T3 20–30 8.99 0.019 3.8 47.7 0.62 16 16 5.9 n.d. 588 n.d. 124 150 298 Bergamin et al. / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 8 (2005) 293–302

Figure 3. Dendrogram resulting from Q-mode Hierarchical Cluster Analysis on foraminiferal assemblages from G4, H4 and T3 cores.

typical species of fine sediments, was significant. Only and many tests of Miliolina appear to be transparent, the bottom sample was slightly different from the other that is, not well calcified. The number of deformed tests ones, due to the lower percentages of Bulimina ac- wasnever high (1.40–3.74% of the entire assemblage). uleata and Tretomphalus concinnus and higher values Those present belonged primarily to Miliolinella sub- of Haynesina depressula. Species diversity in core H4 rotunda. The irregularity consisted mainly in an incom- wasvery high (α-index: 30–42). As well, faunal abun- plete or irregular development of the last chamber. The dance was rather high (BN > 125 µm: 644–2325), with inorganic fraction of the sediment contained several ir- the maximum value corresponding to the topmost sam- regular iron grains derived from the Bagnoli steel plant ple (Table 3). All specimens had a reduced mean size activity.

Table 3. Benthic Number (number of specimens counted in1gof last chambers. The inorganic fraction of the sediment sediment > 125 µm) and α index (species diversity) of G4, H4 and was rich in antrophic grains, mostly coal grains and T3 cores. iron dross. Sample BN α-Index In the T3 core, all samples were dominated by El- phidium advena (19–46%), a typical species of in- G4 0–3 17.2 15.2 fralittoral sandy bottoms and byBuccella granulata G4 3–6 12.4 13.6 (6–15%). Quinqueloculina spp. (5–24%; mainly Q. G4 6–9 21.0 16.0 dimidiata and Q. annectens)was abundant especially G4 9–12 8.1 12.1 in the higher core levels, while Lobatula lobatula was G4 12–15 12.2 13.6 more frequent in the lower part of core. The α-index G4 15–18 10.7 9.1 covered a wide range of values (14–30), similar to those G4 18–21 21.3 10.2 of core G4; the benthic number, on the contrary, was ex- G4 21–24 28.9 13.6 tremely low (8.46–22.5) and rather constant (Table 3). G4 24–32 7.5 16.0 All species were represented by small specimens; the H4 0–5 2325.0 36.1 deformed species never exceeded 3% of the assem- H4 5–10 1350.9 42.1 blage. Nevertheless, the major part of these belonged H4 10–15 644.9 36.1 to Elphidium advenam many of whose tests were more H4 15–20 1200.8 30.0 irregular than deformed. Deformed Elphidium advena H4 20–25 1228.2 38.0 reached 16% in the top sample, but were less than 5% H4 25–30 876.5 30.6 in the three lowermost samples (21–24; 24–27; 27– T3 0–3 21.7 13.7 30). The inorganic fraction of sediment was less rich T3 3–6 22.9 24.6 in antrophic iron and coal compared to the other cores. T3 6–9 19.0 24.6 T3 9–12 19.4 19.1 Discussion T3 12–15 24.4 19.1 T3 15–18 19.7 18.3 Since the Q-mode CA singled out clusters mainly T3 18–21 15.9 20.2 corresponding to a single core, it may be inferred that T3 21–24 18.1 29.5 foraminiferan assemblage variability is associated with T3 24–27 10.2 14.5 spatial changes, rather than temporal changes of the en- T3 27–30 10.1 17.2 vironmental parameters. It is likely that, the sediment T3 30–34 8.5 15.5 content in fine fractions is the most important factor determining the assemblage composition. Cores G4 and H4 (grouped in the same cluster, Figure 3), contained In the HCA, the G4 core was almost entirely grouped a significant percentage of fine sediments (Figure 2), at a high hierarchic level with the H4 core, because in while core T3, fairly distant from the other cores in the both cores Quinqueloculina spp. (mainly Q. dimidiata) CA, was almost exclusively constituted of sand. With was dominant with similar abundances and Haynesina respect to temporal changes of the benthic assemblage, depressula showed comparable values. In the assem- core H4 showed a rather constant composition; core G4 blage of the G4 core Elphidium advena (up to 27%), did not show distinct trends in faunal changes, and core Buccella granulata (up to 18%) and Lobatula lobat- T3 showed slight differences between the lower and ula (up to 11%) were also frequent. Faunal abundances the upper portion. Consequently, HCA does not show were extremely low (BN > 125 µm: 7.5–28.89) in all the important faunal shift that could result from a sup- the samples. High species diversity was shown by high posed environmental transition from natural to polluted α-index values (15.39–28.97), with the highest ones conditions (Alve, 1991a,b). Such a deduction is con- corresponding to the top and the bottom of the core firmed by analyses of pollutants. Heavy metals, PCB (Table 3). Neither parameter showed a distinct trend in and PAHs did not reveal a clear decreasing trend with relation with the depth of samples in the core. Gener- increasing depth. The high concentrations of PAHs, lo- ally, species are represented by rather small specimens; calised in some levels of core F3, may not be correlated the number of aberrant tests does not exceed the nat- with the modifications on foraminiferal assemblages ural background. Nonetheless, many specimens of El- because in this core foraminifers were not present. The phidium advena showed a slightly irregular test, mostly recorded PCBs concentrations (up to about 120 ng g−1 derived from the anomalous size of one or more of the d.w.) did not seem to affect foraminiferal abundance.

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Figure 4. Comparison between abundance of irregular Miliolinella subrotunda specimens and Cu concentrations.

Figure 5. Comparison between abundance of irregular Elphidium advena specimens and Cr, Zn and Mn concentrations.

The low faunal abundance or the complete absence of trace metals analyses, Dr. S. Rossi and G. Ciuffa for foraminifera in some cores could be attributed to high PAHs determination. The authors are grateful to Dr. metals pollution (Alve, 1991a,b; Yanko et al., 1994; G. Cavarretta, Director of IGAG (CNR), for the use of Samir and El Din, 2001) if natural causes could be SEM and to Mr. A. Mancini for the technical assistance excluded. The high sedimentation rate recorded in the in SEM photographs. study area by Sharp and Nardi (1987) could have caused a dilution of tests in the sediments, corresponding to a decrease of the BN. In spite of this, it is reasonable References to suppose that the high differences in foraminiferal abundance recorded in cores G4, H4 and T3 may not Abbate, M., Bassano, E., Boniforti, R., Bruschi, A., Cannarsa, be explained by large differences in the sedimentation S., Cerrati, G., Conversi, A., Ferretti, O., Furia, S., Nicco- 2 lai, I., Peirano, A., Peroni, C., Schirone, A., Sgorbini, S., rate in the study area, because it is smaller than 1 km . 1998. Progetto esecutivo per la caratterizzazione marino-costiera It is likely that the combined high concentrations of del Golfo di Pozzuoli—descrizione area. (Executive project to more than one metal (particularly Cu and Fe) are re- the coastal marine characterization of the Gulf of Pozzuoli— sponsible for the absence of foraminifera in F1, F3, R1 description of the area. In Italian). ENEA, Internal report and T1 cores. However, high Zn contamination (up to (Italy). 2300 mg kg−1 d.w.) recorded in core H4 did not seem Alve, E., 1991a. Benthic foraminifera in sediment cores reflect- ing heavy metal pollution in Sørfjord, Western Norway. J. to influence foraminiferal abundance. Foraminiferal Res. 21(1), 190–203. The presence of irregular tests may have natural Alve, E., 1991b. Foraminifera, climatic change, and pollution: a study causes, that is, environmental stress due to hypo/hyper of late Holocene sediments in Drammensfjord, southeast Norway. salinity or strong hydro dynamism (Geslin et al., 2000). The Holocene 1(3), 243–261. We can exclude that the significant presence of irreg- Alve, E., Olsgard, F., 1999. Benthic foraminiferal colonization in ex- ular Miliolinella subrotunda and Elphidium advena periments with copper-contaminated sediments. J. Foraminiferal found in this work is naturally driven, because there Res. 29(3), 186–195. Ausili, A., Pellegrini, D., Onorati, F., De Ranieri, S., 1998. Val- is no fresh-water contribution in the study area and no utazione delle qualitàdisedimenti del Porto di Viareggio da widespread signs of mechanical trauma were observed sottoporre ad escavo. (Evaluation on quality sediments of Port on the tests. Alve (1991a) noted that the normal rate of Viareggio before dredging. In Italian). Acqua Aria (Italy), of abnormal specimens in a non-stressed population is January 1998, pp. 67–71. about 1% (calculated on the entire assemblage). In lab- Cavalier-Smith, T., 1993. Kingdom Protozoa and its 18 phyla. Mi- oratory cultures of Ammonia under normal conditions, crobiol. Rev. 57(4), 953–994. 1% of abnormalities was observed (Stouff et al., 1999). Coccioni, R., 2000. Benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of heavy metal pollution. A case study from the Goro Lagoon Consequently, since the percentage of irregular Milio- (Italy). In: R. E. Martin (Ed.), Topics in Geobiology, linella subrotunda was significantly high in H4 core Vol 15, pp. 71–103. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, and that of Elphidium advena was high in G4 and T3 New York. cores, the cause of this phenomenon could be attributed Damiani, V., Baudo, R., De Rosa, S., De Simone, R., Ferretti, O., to one of the analysed heavy metals. Izzo, G., Serena, F., 1987. A case study: Bay of Pozzuoli (Gulf The percentages of irregular Miliolinella subro- of Naples, Italy). Hydrobiologia 149, 201–211. Debenay, J. P., Tsakiridis, E., Soulard, R., Grossel, H., 2001. Factors tunda were compared with the concentrations of Cu in determining the distribution of foraminiferal assemblages in Port H4 core. Although the range in Cu concentrations was Joinville Harbor (Ile d’Yeu, France): the influence of pollution. small, it is evident from Figure 4 that trends of the two Mar. Micropal. 43, 75–118. graphs are similar even though the intervals sampled De Pippo, T., Di Cara, A., Guida, M., Pescatore, T., Renda, P., 1984. for chemical and foraminifers analyses are different. 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