Foraminiferal Faunal Trends and Assemblages of the Bohai Sea, Huanghai Sea and East China Sea

Qualitative and quantitative studies of Recent foraminifera of the Bohai, Huanghai, and East China Seas gave distributional data on: faunal composition; dominant indicator species (including species occurring in high to low numbers); species diversity; faunal dominance; absolute abundance; percentage composition of agglutinated, porcelaneous and hyaline tests; planktonic/benthonic (P/B) foraminiferal ratio; and others. Correlation of faunal trends with known environmental parameters such as salinity, temperature, prevailing current and water mass systems, substrate, CaCO₃ content of sediment, and more allowed establishment of foraminiferal assemblages useful for ecological and paleoecological interpretations. Based on marked changes in frequency composition among dominant benthic species, six benthonic assemblages were recognized in the Bohai Sea, three in the northern Huanghai Sea, five in the southern Huanghai Sea, and nine in the East China Sea. In addition, four planktonic assemblages characterized the East China Sea and southern Huanghai Sea.