Ciencia Puerto Rico

The purpose and significance of my project is to refine the use of foraminifers as bio-indicators of estuarine pollution, in Puerto Rico, by understanding their inter-relationship with heavy-metals in sediments and in culture experiments. Specific objectives being addressed include: 1) to determine the distribution, bio-availability, and concentration of metals in sediments; 2) to determine if key identifiable foraminiferal assemblages are good “tracers” of pollutants on a spatial/temporal scale; and 3) to determine specific morphological deformities induced by bio-available metals in controlled culture experiments.