title: Selective responses of benthic foraminifera to thermal pollution.
abstract: Persistent thermohaline pollution at a site along the northern coast of Israel, due to power and desalination plants, is used as a natural laboratory to evaluate the effects of rising temperature and salinity levels on benthic foraminifera living in shallow hard-bottom habitats. Biomonitoring of the disturbed area and a control station shows that elevated temperature is a more significant stressor compared to salinity, thus causing a decrease in abundance and richness. Critical temperature thresholds were observed at 30 and 35°C, the latter representing the most thermally tolerant species in the studied area Pararotalia calcariformata, which is the only symbiont-bearing species observed within the core of the heated area. Common species of the shallow hard-bottom habitats including several Lessepsian invaders are almost absent in the most exposed site indicating that excess warming will likely impede the survival of these species that currently benefit from the ongoing warming of the Eastern Mediterranean.
authors.affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Danna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Titelboim
authors.affiliation: Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Ahuva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almogi-Labin
authors.affiliation: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Barak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herut
authors.affiliation: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucera
authors.affiliation: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Orit
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hyams-Kaphzan
authors.affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ovadia
authors.affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Electronic address: sigalabr@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Sigal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abramovich
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D056908:Foraminifera / Q000502:physiology*; D007557:Israel; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Benthic foraminifera; Climate change; East Mediterranean; Hard-bottom habitat; Lessepsian invaders; Thermohaline pollution