USING FORAMINIFERAL COMMUNITIES TO ASSESS POLLUTION FROM PULP AND PAPER MILLS IN COASTAL FLORIDA

Pulp and paper mills are dumping pollutants into streams in the panhandle region of Florida. The Buckeye Mill is discharging wastewater into Fenholloway River which empties into Appalachee Bay. This bay is heavily fished and shellfish are collected at beaches near the mouth of the river. Environmental problems, such as the masculinization of female mosquitofish, have been observed in Fenholloway River. The first observation of masculinized female mosquitofish was from Elevenmile Creek. A paper mill is discharging effluent into this creek, which empties into Perdido Bay near Pensacola. A third mill is operating in Panama City and dumping wastewater into Watson Bayou which discharges into St. Andrews Bay. Pensacola and Panama City are popular tourist destinations in Florida. Sediment samples have been taken close to each wastewater discharge location and from the rivers and surrounding bays. Foraminifera, excellent indicators for monitoring pollution and environmental change, have been documented from each locality. Benthic and epiphytic foraminifera can be used as indicators of pollution through the quantitative analysis of population density, species diversity, assemblage structure and shell morphology and deformation. The composition of the foraminiferal communities will be compared with communities taken from control sites unaffected by the wastewater so that the composition of these communities can be used to assess the effects of the effluent. Three locations, Econfina River, Eightmile Creek, and the West Bay region of St. Andrews Aquatic Preserve, will serve as control sites. Econfina River, northwest of Fenholloway River, and Eightmile Creek, east of Elevenmile Creek, have drainages similar to those of the wastewater-dominated streams under consideration. Effluent is discharged into the eastern section of St. Andrews Bay adjacent to the aquatic preserve. Preliminary results from Fenholloway River show an increased percentage of agglutinated species and decreased diversity when compared with samples from control sites in Econfina River indicating that paper mill pollution strongly affects foraminiferal communities and suggesting that these communities can be used to track the spread of the pollutants in the rivers and bays near the pulp and paper mills.