ABSTRACT

The Buras-Scofield Bayou Region, a marsh area in southeastern Louisiana containing numerous water bodies, was chosen as the site for a study of the ecology of the brackish-water Foraminifera.

Samples were collected from twenty-two locations in the marsh, lakes and Gulf of Mexico. These samples were examined and analyzed to determine the relative abundance and distribution of species. Data on such factors as salinity, bottom character, temperature and pH were recorded for each location at the time of sampling.

Salinity was found to exert the greatest apparent influence on the distribution of Foraminiferca. Other factors may or may not have some effect, but the available evidence was not sufficient to justify any conclusions.

A classification of environments consisting of three biofacies divided into eight subfacies is proposed which is adaptable to any area in the coastal marsh of Louisiana. The Buras-Scofield Bayou Region contains the following four subfacies: polyhaline marsh, saline marsh, polyhaline lakes and nearshore gulf.

Over seventy species were found of which only sixty-eight are listed and figured.