Domestic Sewage Outfall Severely Altered Environmental Conditions, Foraminiferal Communities, and Ecological Quality Statuses in Front of the Nearshore Beach of Cigarras (SE Brazil)

This study aims to analyses the response of meiofaunal organisms (foraminifera) to disturbances caused by the diffusers of domestic sewage outfall at Cigarras beach, SE Brazil. Hydrographical, sedimentological (grain size and geochemical), and living benthic foraminiferal recorded in 2006 and 2007 analyzed in ten stations were compared with the same results analyzed in two control/reference stations (sampled in 2008). The results of this work show that, in the benthic environment of the Cigarras region, moderated hydrodynamic conditions, relatively high total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total sulfur contents, oxic water column and anoxic sediments, organic matter supplied by marine productivity and from mixed sources prevail. Living foraminiferal assemblages denote that the Cigarras region is undergoing environmental degradation due to progressive organic enrichment directly influenced by the domestic sewage outfall. The effluents discharged by the domestic sewage constrained the composition of foraminiferal communities (which include mainly stress tolerant species) with probable impacts on the entire marine trophic chain. Noticeably, the tolerant species Ammonia tepida, Bolivina striatula and Buliminella elegantissima dominated at the stations under the influence of the sewage outfall. In addition, Ammonia parkinsoniana was found in moderate abundances, and the moderate level of TOC enrichment by the sewage outfall did not prevent the survival of this sensitive species. The ecological quality status inferred from the diversity index Exp(H'(bc)) calculated on foraminifera showed the poor ecological status of benthic habitats in the area. Overall, this work highlighted the adverse effects of the sewage outfall on the benthic ecosystem in front of the Cigarras beach in Brazil. Future works should investigate the current ecological quality of the area to figure out if any change occurred since the present study sampling.