# Relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in response to total organic carbon in sediments: Data from European intertidal areas and transitional waters

Vincent M.P. Bouchet, Fabrizio Frontalini, Fabio Francescangeli, Pierre-Guy

Sauriau, Emmanuelle Geslin, Maria Virginia Alves Martins, Ahuva

Almogi-Labin, Simona Avnaim-Katav, Letizia Di Bella, Alejandro Cearreta, et al.

► To cite this version:

Vincent M.P. Bouchet, Fabrizio Frontalini, Fabio Francescangeli, Pierre-Guy Sauriau, Emmanuelle Geslin, et al.. Relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in response to total organic carbon in sediments: Data from European intertidal areas and transitional waters. Data in Brief, 2021, 35, pp.106920. 10.1016/j.dib.2021.106920. hal-03154324

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Relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in response to total organic carbon in sediments: Data from European intertidal areas and transitional waters

Vincent M.P. Bouchet, Fabrizio Frontalini, Fabio Francescangeli, Pierre-Guy Sauriau, Emmanuelle Geslin, Maria Virginia Alves Martins, Ahuva Almogi-Labin, Simona Avnaim-Katav, Letizia Di Bella, Alejandro Cearreta, Rodolfo Coccioni, Ashleigh Costelloe, Margarita D. Dimiza, Luciana Ferraro, Kristin Haynert, Michael Martínez-Colón, Romana Melis, Magali Schweizer, Maria V. Triantaphyllou, Akira Tsujimoto, Brent Wilson, Eric Armynot du Châtelet

PII: S0025-326X(21)00105-3

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112071

Reference: DIB 106920

To appear in: *Data in Brief*

Received date: 21 January 2021

Revised date: 24 February 2021

Accepted date: 25 February 2021

Please cite this article as: Vincent M.P. Bouchet, Fabrizio Frontalini, Fabio Francescangeli, Pierre-Guy Sauriau, Emmanuelle Geslin, Maria Virginia Alves Martins, Ahuva Almogi-Labin, Simona Avnaim-Katav, Letizia Di Bella, Alejandro Cearreta, Rodolfo Coccioni, Ashleigh Costelloe, Margarita D. Dimiza, Luciana Ferraro, Kristin Haynert, Michael Martínez-Colón, Romana Melis, Magali Schweizer, Maria V. Triantaphyllou, Akira Tsujimoto, Brent Wilson, Eric Armynot du Châtelet, Relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in response to total organic carbon in sediments: Data from European intertidal areas and transitional waters, *Data in Brief* (2021), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112071

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**Article Title**

Relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in response to total organic carbon in sediments: Data from European intertidal areas and transitional waters

**Authors**

Vincent M.P. Bouchet<fnref n="1" />*, Fabrizio Frontalini<fnref n="2" />, Fabio Francescangeli<fnref n="3" />, Pierre-Guy Sauriau<fnref n="4" />, Emmanuelle Geslin<fnref n="5" />, Maria Virginia Alves Martins<fnref n="6" />,<fnref n="7" />, Ahuva Almogi-Labin<fnref n="8" />, Simona Avnaim-Katav<fnref n="9" />, Letizia Di Bella<fnref n="10" />, Alejandro Cearreta<fnref n="11" />, Rodolfo Coccioni<fnref n="2" />, Ashleigh Costelloe<fnref n="12" />, Margarita D. Dimiza<fnref n="13" />, Luciana Ferraro<fnref n="14" />, Kristin Haynert<fnref n="15" />, Michael Martínez-Colón<fnref n="16" />, Romana Melis<fnref n="17" />, Magali Schweizer<fnref n="5" />, Maria V. Triantaphyllou<fnref n="13" />, Akira Tsujimoto<fnref n="18" />, Brent Wilson<fnref n="19" />, and Eric Armynot du Châtelet²⁰

**Affiliations**

<footnote n="1">¹Univ. Lille, CNRS, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, UMR 8187, LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, Station Marine de Wimereux, F 59000, Lille, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Univ. Urbino Dipartimento di Scienze Pure e Applicate (DiSPeA), Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo", Campus Scientifico Enrico Mattei, Località Crocicchia, 61029, Urbino, Italy</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³University of Hamburg, Institute for Geology, Centre for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Bundesstraße, 5520146 Hamburg, Germany</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴La Rochelle Université, CNRS, Littoral Environnement et Sociétés, UMR 7266 LIENS, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000 La Rochelle, France</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵UMR CNRS 6112 LPG-BIAF, University of Angers, 2 Bd Lavoisier, Angers Cedex 1, 49045, France</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), R. São Francisco Xavier, 524 - Lab 1006 - Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷Aveiro University, Department of Geosciences, GeoBioTec, Campus de Santiago, 3810-197 Aveiro, Portugal</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸Geological Survey of Israel, Yesha'yahu Leibowitz 32, Jerusalem 9692100, Israel</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, 3108001, Israel</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹Departamento de Geología, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain</footnote>

<footnote n="12">¹²BioStratigraphic Associates (Trinidad) Limited, 113 Frederick Settlement, Old Southern Main Rd., Caroni, Trinidad and Tobago</footnote>

<footnote n="13">¹³National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, Panepistimioupolis, 15784, Athens, Greece</footnote>

<footnote n="14">¹⁴CNR, Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy, Calata Porta di Massa, Naples, Italy</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵University of Göttingen, J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Göttingen</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶Florida A&M University, School of the Environment, FL, USA, FSH Science Research Center, RM306B, 1515 South MLK Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, 34127 Trieste, Italy</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸Faculty of Education, Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsucho, Matsue, Shimane 690-8504, Japan</footnote>

<footnote n="19">¹⁹Cedar Lodge, Maenygroes, Cei Newydd, Ceredigion, Wales SA45 9RL, UK</footnote>
²⁰Univ. Lille, CNRS, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, UMR 8187, LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, F 59000, Lille, France

**Corresponding author(s)**

Vincent M.P. Bouchet (vincent.bouchet@univ-lille.fr)

**Abstract**

We gathered total organic carbon (%) and relative abundances of benthic foraminifera in intertidal areas and transitional waters from the English Channel/European Atlantic Coast (587 samples) and the Mediterranean Sea (301 samples) regions from published and unpublished datasets. This database allowed to calculate total organic carbon optimum and tolerance range of benthic foraminifera in order to assign them to ecological groups of sensitivity. Optima and tolerance range were obtained by mean of the weighted-averaging method. The data are related to the research article titled "Indicative value of benthic foraminifera for biomonitoring: assignment to ecological groups of sensitivity to total organic carbon of species from European intertidal areas and transitional waters" [1].

**Keywords**

Living Benthic foraminifera – Relative abundances – Total organic carbon – Intertidal areas – Transitional waters – English Channel - European Atlantic coast – Mediterranean Sea

**Specifications Table**

<table><tr><td>Subject</td><td>Ecology</td></tr><tr><td>Specific subject area</td><td>Environmental Monitoring</td></tr><tr><td>Type of data</td><td>Tables and Figures</td></tr><tr><td>How data were acquired</td><td>Data available with peer-reviewed journal articles and unpublished data. The weighted-averaging (WA) optimum and tolerance approach was used [2] [3] using the optimos.prime R package [4]; as well as the AMBI formula [5]. Statistics were done with the statistical language R version 3.6.3 [6].</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>Data format</td><td>Primary data<br/>Secondary data</td></tr><tr><td>Parameters for data collection</td><td>The aim was to collect data on total organic carbon (TOC) and benthic foraminifera in order to classify benthic foraminifera in ecological groups of sensitivity to TOC [5]. Studies had to fulfil the following criteria: 1) coming from the English Channel, the French, Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic coasts and the Mediterranean Sea, 2) sampled from intertidal areas and transitional waters, 3) based on living foraminifera, 4) TOC sample must come from the same site at the same date as foraminiferal sample, 5) only samples containing >50 living stained specimens were considered.<br/>If only organic matter content (%) was provided, it was converted to TOC using the following formula: LOI (loss-on-ignition) = ~2 TOC [7] [8]. When foraminiferal raw counts or abundances were available, there were transformed to relative abundances.</td></tr><tr><td>Description of data collection</td><td>Primary data – Data from unpublished studies (studies 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) were provided by their authors. When the raw data were not published with the peer-reviewed publication (studies 13, 33 and 41), the authors were contacted to provide us with the raw data.<br/>Secondary data – When available, relative abundances data were downloaded from online sources where the study was published. When only raw counts or abundances were published, foraminiferal data were transformed to relative abundances.<br/>We standardized species names according to the World Registry of Marine Species (WoRMS). All data processing and analysis was done in the open-source software R.</td></tr><tr><td>Data source location</td><td>Secondary data sources:<ul><li>Study 2: E. Armynot du Châtelet, K. Gebhardt, M. Langer, Coastal pollution monitoring: Foraminifera as tracers of environmental perturbation in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer (Northern France), Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie – Abhandlungen 262 (2011) 91-116. [9]</li><li>Study 4: F. Francescangeli, V.M.P. Bouchet, A. Trentesaux, E. Armynot du Châtelet, E., Does elevation matter? Living foraminiferal distribution in a hyper tidal salt marsh (Canche Estuary, Northern France). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 194 (2017) 192-204. [10]</li><li>Study 5: E. Armynot du Châtelet, V. Bout-Roumazeilles, A. Riboulleau, A. Trentesaux, A., Sediment (grain size and clay mineralogy) and organic matter quality control on living benthic foraminifera. Rev Micropaléontologie 52 (2009a) 75-84. [11] and E. Armynot du Châtelet, F. Frontalini F., F. Francescangeli F. Significance of replicates: Environmental and paleoenvironmental studies on benthic foraminifera and testate amoebae. Micropaleontology 63 (2017) 257-274. [12]</li></ul></td></tr></table>
- Study 11: M. Mojtahid, E. Geslin, A. Coynel, L. Gorse, C. Vella, A. Davranche, L. Zozzolo, L. Blanchet, E. Bénéteau, E., G. Maillet, Spatial distribution of living (Rose Bengal stained) benthic foraminifera in the Loire estuary (western France). J. Sea Res. 118 (2016) 1–16. [13]

- Study 12: E. Armynot du Châtelet, D. Degré, P.-G. Sauriau, J.-P. Debenay, Distribution of living benthic foraminifera in relation with environmental variables within the Aiguillon cove (Atlantic coast, France) : improving knowledge for paleoecological interpretation. Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 180 (2009b) 131-144. [14]

- Study 14: V.M.P. Bouchet, J.-P. Debenay, P.-G. Sauriau, J. Radford-Knoery, P. Soletchnik Effects of short-term environmental disturbances on living benthic foraminifera during the Pacific oyster summer mortality in the Marennes-Oléron Bay (France). Mar. Environ. Res. 64 (2007) 358–383. [15]

- Study 15: A. Cearreta, M.J. Irabien, I. Ulibarri, I. Yusta, I.W. Croudace, A.B. Cundy Recent salt marsh development and natural regeneration of reclaimed areas in the Plentzia Estuary, N. Spain. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 54 (2002) 863–886. [16]

- Study 16: P. Diz, G. Francés, G., Rosòn Effects of contrasting upwelling-downwelling on benthic foraminiferal distribution in the Ría de Vigo (NW Spain). J. Mar. Syst. 60 (2006) 1–18. [17]

- Study 17: M.V.A. Martins, F. Silva, L.L.M. Laut, F. Frontalini, I.M.M.M. Clemente, P. Miranda, R. Figueira, S.H.M. Sousa, J.M.A. Dias, Response of benthic foraminifera to organic matter quantity and quality and bioavailable concentrations of metals in Aveiro Lagoon (Portugal). PLOS ONE 10 (2015) e0118077. [18]

- Study 18: V.A. Martins, F. Frontalini, K.M. Tramonte, R.C.L. Figueira, P. Miranda, C. Sequeira, S. Fernández-Fernández, J.A. Dias, C. Yamashita, R. Renó, L.L.M. Laut, F.S. Silva, MA.D.C. Rodrigues, C. Bernardes, R. Nagai, S.H.M. Sousa, M. Mahiques, B. Rubio, A. Bernabeu, D. Rey, F. Rocha, Assessment of the health quality of Ria de Aveiro (Portugal): Heavy metals and benthic foraminifera. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 70 (2013) 18–33. [19]

- Study 19: V. Martins, E. Ferreira da Silva, C. Sequeira, F. Rocha, A.C. Duarte, A.C. Evaluation of the ecological effects of heavy metals on the assemblages of benthic foraminifera of the canals of Aveiro (Portugal). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 87 (2010) 293–304. [20]

- Study 20: M.V.A. Martins, A.F.S. Pinto, F. Frontalini, M.C.M. da Fonseca, D.L. Terroso, L.L.M. Laut, N. Zaaboub, M.A. da Conceição Rodrigues, F. Rocha, Can benthic foraminifera be used as bio-indicators of pollution in areas with a wide range of physicochemical variability? Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 182 (2016) 211–225. [21]

- Study 21: S. Camacho, D. Moura, S. Connor, D. Scott, T. Boski, Ecological zonation of benthic foraminifera in the lower Guadiana Estuary (southeastern Portugal). Mar. Micropaleontol. 114 (2014) 1–18. [22]

- Study 22: X. Benito, R. Trobajo, A. Cearreta, C. Ibáñez, Benthic foraminifera as indicators of habitat in a Mediterranean delta: implications for ecological and palaeoenvironmental studies. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 180 (2016) 97–113. [23]

- Study 23: W.J. Foster, E. Armynot du Châtelet, M. Rogerson, Testing
benthic foraminiferal distributions as a contemporary quantitative approach to biomonitoring estuarine heavy metal pollution. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 64 (2012) 1039–1048. [24]

- Study 24: M. Schintu, C. Buosi, F. Galgani, A. Marrucci, B. Marras, A. Ibba, A. Cherchi, Interpretation of coastal sediment quality based on trace metal and PAH analysis, benthic foraminifera, and toxicity tests (Sardinia, Western Mediterranean). Mar. Poll. Bull. 94 (2015) 72-83. [25]

- Study 25: Foraminiferal data: F. Frontalini, C. Buosi, S. Da Pelo, R. Coccioni, A. Cherchi, C. Bucci, Benthic foraminifera as bio-indicators of trace element pollution in the heavily contaminated Santa Gilla lagoon (Cagliari, Italy). Mar. Pollut. Bull. 58 (2009) 858–877. [26]

- Study 26 and 29: Foraminiferal data : F. Frontalini, C. Buosi, R. Coccioni, Benthic foraminiferal assemblages and trace element contents from the lagoons of Orbetello and Lesina. Environ. Monit. Assess. 170 (2010) 245–260. [27]

- Study 26: TOC data: A. Specchiulli, R. Renzi, T. Scirocco, L. Cilenti, M. Florio, P. Breber, S. Focardi, S. Bastianoni, Comparative study based on sediment characteristics and macrobenthic communities in two Italian lagoons. Environ Monit Assess 160 (2010) 237–256. [28]

- Study 27: L. Ferraro, M. Sprovieri, I. Alberico, F. Lirer, L. Prevedello, E. Marsella, Benthic foraminifera and heavy metals distribution: A case study from the Naples Harbour (Tyrrhenian Sea, Southern Italy). Environ. Pollut. 142 (2006) 274–287. [29]

- Study 28: F. Frontalini, G. Margaritelli, F. Francescangeli, R. Rettori, E. Armynot du Châtelet, R. Coccioni, Benthic foraminiferal assemblages and biotopes in a coastal lake: The case study of lake Varano (Southern Italy). Acta Protozool. 52 (2013) 147–160. [30]

- Study 29: TOC data: A. Borja, E. Barbone, A. Basset, G. Borgersen, M. Brkljacic, M. Elliott, J.M. Garmendia, J.C. Marques, K. Mazik, I. Muxika, J.M. Neto, K. Norling, J.G. Rodríguez, I. Rosati, B. Rygg, H. Teixeira, A. Trayanova, Response of single benthic metrics and multi-metric methods to anthropogenic pressure gradients, in five distinct European coastal and transitional ecosystems. Mar Pollut Bull 62 (2011) 499–513 [31]

- Study 30: Foraminiferal data: R. Coccioni, F. Frontalini, A. Marsili, D. Mana, Benthic foraminifera and trace element distribution: A case-study from the heavily polluted lagoon of Venice (Italy). Mar. Pollut. Bull. 59 (2009) 257–267. [32] TOC data: T. Secco, F. Pellizzato, A. Sfriso, B. Pavoni, The changing state of contamination in the Lagoon of Venice. Part 1: organic pollutants. Chemosphere 58 (2005) [33]

- Study 36: F. Bergin, F. Kucuksezgin, E. Uluturhan, I.F. Barut, E. Meric, N. Avşar, A. Nazik, The response of benthic foraminifera and ostracoda to heavy metal pollution in Gulf of Izmir (Eastern Aegean Sea). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 66 (2006) 368–386. [34]

- Study 37: S. Flako-Zaritsky, A. Almogi-Labin, B. Schilman, A. Rosenfeld, C. Benjamini, The environmental setting and microfauna of the oligohaline Timsah pond, Israel: The last remnant of the Kabara swamps. Mar. Micropaleontol. 80 (2011) 74–88. [35]

- Study 38: S. Avnaim-Katav, A. Agnon, D. Sivan, A. Almogi-Labin, Calcareous assemblages of the southeastern Mediterranean low-tide
<table><tr><td></td><td>estuaries - Seasonal dynamics and paleo-environmental implications. J. Sea Res. 108 (2016) 30–49. [36]<br/>- Study 39: R. Elshanawany, M.I. Ibrahim, Y. Milker, G. Schmiedl, N. Badr, S.E.A. Kholeif, K.A.F. Zonneveld, Anthropogenic impact on benthic Foraminifera, Abu-Qir Bay, Alexandria, Egypt. J. Foraminifer. Res. 41 (2011) 326–348. [37]<br/>- Study 40: A. El Kateb, C. Stalder, C., Neururer, R. Fentimen, J.E. Spangenberg, S. Spezzaferri, S., Distribution of benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the transitional environment of the Djerba lagoon (Tunisia). Swiss J. Geosci. 111 (2018) 561–578. [38]<br/>- Study 42: M.V. Alves Martins, N. Zaaboub, L. Aleya, F. Frontalini, E. Pereira, P. Miranda, M. Mane, F. Rocha, L. Laut, M. El Bour, Environmental quality assessment of Bizerte Lagoon (Tunisia) using living foraminifera assemblages and a multiproxy approach. PLoS ONE 10 (2015) e0137250. [39]</td></tr><tr><td>Data accessibility</td><td>The database is available on Mendeley: Bouchet, Vincent; Frontalini, Fabrizio; Francescangeli, Fabio; Sauriau, Pierre-Guy; Geslin, Emmanuelle; Martins, Virginia; Almogi-Labin, Ahuva; Avnaim-Katav, Simona; Di Bella, Letizia; Cearreta, Alejandro; Coccioni, Rodolfo; Costelloe, Ashleigh; Dimiza, Margarita; Ferraro, Luciana; Haynert, Kristin; Martinez-Colon, Michael; Melis, Romana; Schweizer, Magali; Triantaphyllou, Maria; Tsujimoto, Akira; Wilson, Brent; Armynot du Châtelet, Eric (2021), “Living foraminifera relative abundances and total organic carbon in European Atlantic intertidal and transitional areas”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/stjfr9xvxg.1<br/>http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/stjfr9xvxg.1</td></tr><tr><td>Related research article</td><td>V.M.P. Bouchet, F. Frontalini, F. Francescangeli, P.-G. Sauriau, E. Geslin, M.V.A. Martins, A. Almogi-Labin, S. Avnaim-Katav, L. Di Bella, A. Cearreta, R. Coccioni, A. Costelloe, M.D. Dimiza, L. Ferraro, K. Haynert, M. Martínez-Colón, R. Melis, M. Schweizer, M.V. Triantaphyllou, A. Tsujimoto, B. Wilson, E. Armynot du Châtelet, Indicative value of benthic foraminifera for biomonitoring: assignment to ecological groups of sensitivity to total organic carbon of species from European intertidal areas and transitional waters, Mar. Poll. Bull. 164 (2021) 112071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112071</td></tr></table>
## Value of the Data

* The data of relative abundances of living benthic foraminifera in European intertidal areas and transitional waters allows assessing the response of the species to total organic carbon contained in the sediment over a large geographical scale.

* The assignment of benthic foraminiferal species to ecological groups of sensitivity to total organic carbon have further implication for environmental monitoring.

* In the present study database, foraminiferal species names and data format were standardised to species concept from the World Register of Marine Species and to relative abundances, respectively.

* These data might be re-used to further assess and improve our understanding of the biogeographical distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera in European intertidal areas and transitional waters over a large latitudinal range.

## Data Description

The present study database (available in Mendely: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/stjfr9xvxg.1) composed of primary and secondary data summarizes the total organic carbon content in sediment (%) and the relative abundances (%) of benthic foraminiferal species in European intertidal areas and transitional waters (French coast of the English Channel, European Atlantic Coast and the Mediterranean Sea) extracted from 35 primary peer-reviewed articles and seven unpublished grey literature that met the inclusion criteria for the related systematic review (see meta-data in Table 1). In the English Channel/European Atlantic Coast, selected study sites included eight classical estuaries, four coastal freshwater/brackish water plume, two artificial water bodies and two Ria (Fig. 1; see definition of each body type in Table 1 in [1] according to [40] and [41]). In the Mediterranean Sea, one delta, six lentic non-tidal lagoons, four lentic tidal lagoons, one artificial water body, seven semi-enclosed bays and one classical estuary were considered (Fig. 1).

This database was built to assign benthic foraminiferal species to ecological groups of sensitivity to total organic carbon (see [1] for more details). Because of the particular characteristics of foraminiferal habitats and communities, we decided to present the database split in two: one for the English Channel/European Atlantic and one for the Mediterranean region. The overall aim of this paper is to provide foraminiferal ecologists with a ready-to-use database detailing foraminiferal species relative abundances and total organic content (%) in the studied sampling site to be used for ecological, biogeographical and environmental monitoring purpose.
<table><thead><tr><th>Dataset</th><th>Region</th><th>Country</th><th>Local study area</th><th>Related foraminiferal study</th><th>Related Total Organic Carbon study</th><th>Sample code description</th><th>Tidal condition</th><th>Year of sampling</th><th>Time of the year</th><th>Foram size fraction</th><th>TOC method</th><th>Data available with original publication</th><th>Sediment layer</th><th>Sampling device</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Grand-Fort Philippe</td><td>Francescangeli (2017)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>A-J-O-F: April, June, October, February; FP: Fort-Philippe; 1-2-3: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2014-2015</td><td>4 seasons</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Liane estuary</td><td>Armynot du Châtelet et al. (2011)</td><td>same</td><td>BL: Boulogne sur Mer; a-b-c: replicates</td><td>Intertidal and subtidal</td><td>2008</td><td>April</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Yes, relative abundances</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Van Veen grab</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Boulogne sur Mer Harbor</td><td>Francescangeli (2017)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>A-J-O-F: April, June, October, February; BL: Boulogne-sur-Mer; 1-2-3: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2014-2015</td><td>4 seasons</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Canche estuary</td><td>Francescangeli et al. (2017)</td><td>same</td><td>T: transect; P: sampling point; A,B,C: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2012-2013-2014</td><td>September</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Yes, Raw counts</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Canche estuary</td><td>Armynot du Châtelet et al. (2018)</td><td>same</td><td>CE: Canche estuary transect cross shore; D: samples in a square meter</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2007 (CE) and 2017 (D)</td><td>April</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Yes, relative abundances</td><td>0-1 cm (CE) and 0-2cm (D)</td><td>Van Veen grab (CE), scraping (D)</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Canche estuary</td><td>Francescangeli (2017)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>A-J-O-F: April, June, October, February; CA: Canche Estuary; 1-2-3: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2014-2015</td><td>4 seasons</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Authie estuary</td><td>Francescangeli (2017)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>A-J-O-F: April, June, October, February; AU: Authie Estrie; 1-2-3: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2014-2015</td><td>4 seasons</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Somme estuary</td><td>Francescangeli (2017)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>A-J-O-F: April, June, October, February; SO: Somme Estuary; 1-2-3: replicates</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2014-2015</td><td>4 seasons</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 85mm)</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>English Channel</td><td>France</td><td>Bay of Veys</td><td>Bouchet (unpublished)</td><td>same</td><td>Ref: reference station outside the influence of the oyster farming area; Transect from oyster farming area (0m) to 50, 100, 200 and 400m away</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2006</td><td>October</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>CHN Elemental analyser</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Spoon (pseudoreplication method)</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>France</td><td>Crouesty harbor</td><td>Armynot du Châtelet (2003)-PhD thesis</td><td>same</td><td>Numbers: stations</td><td>Subtidal</td><td>2002</td><td>July</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LOI</td><td>Unpublished</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Van Veen grab</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>France</td><td>Loire estuary</td><td>Mojtahid et al. (2016)</td><td>same</td><td>A-B: outer estuary-lower inner estuary; middle inner estuary; according to station number</td><td>Intertidal and Subtidal</td><td>2012</td><td>September</td><td>&gt; 150 µm</td><td>LECO-CS200* analyser</td><td>Yes, abundances</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Subtidal: Van Veen grab; Intertidal: scraping off</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>France</td><td>Aiguillon bay</td><td>Armynot du Châtelet et al. (2009)</td><td>same</td><td>According to station number</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2001</td><td>October</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LOI</td><td>Partly, relative abundances</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Van Veen grab</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>France</td><td>Aiguillon Bay/Re Island</td><td>Bouchet et al. (2009)</td><td>same</td><td>© control station outside oyster farm; OZ: in the oyster zone; OFZ: oyster free zone under the influence of the oyster farming area</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2004</td><td>October, 29</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LOI</td><td>No</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: 95mm)</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>France</td><td>Ronce Perquis</td><td>Bouchet et al. (2007)</td><td>same</td><td>According to station number</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>2004</td><td>April 22, May 25, June 9 and 22, August 4</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LOI</td><td>Partly, abundances</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Spoon (pseudoreplication method)</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>Spain</td><td>Plentzia estuary</td><td>Ceazeta et al. (2002)</td><td>same</td><td>According to sampling station name</td><td>Intertidal</td><td>1997</td><td>Sping and Autumn</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>Walkey method</td><td>Partly, relative abundances</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Corer (diameter: not specified)</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>Spain</td><td>Ria de Vigo</td><td>Diz et al. (2006)</td><td>same</td><td>According to station number and month of sampling</td><td>Subtidal</td><td>1998</td><td>January and September</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LECO-CS200* analyser</td><td>Yes, raw counts</td><td>0-1 cm</td><td>Box corer</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Atlantic</td><td>Portugal</td><td>Ria de Aveiro</td><td>Martins et al. (2015)</td><td>same</td><td>According to station number</td><td>Subtidal</td><td>2011</td><td>Summer</td><td>&gt; 63 µm</td><td>LOI</td><td>Yes, relative abundances</td><td>0-1/2 cm</td><td>Adapted Petit Ponnar sampler (with two openings)</td></tr></tbody></table>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Map showing the geographical distribution of the 42 studies according to the water body type (see definition of each body type in Table 1 in [1] according to [40] and [41]) used to assign the species from the English Channel/European Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean Sea intertidal and TWs. Numbers are the same in Tables S1 and S2.</figcaption></figure>

Experimental Design, Materials and Methods

Data acquisition: Data of benthic foraminifera relative abundances and related TOC content (%) in the sediment are mainly from published literature, obtained from data tables in the publication or provided by the authors if not published (database available in Mendeley: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/stjfr9xvxg.1). To select the relevant studies, the following criteria scheme was followed: only studies on living foraminifera (not dead neither total assemblages), only samples with >50 living specimens and contemporaneous TOC and foraminifera sampling. In total, it was possible to include in the data 587 samples from the English Channel/European Atlantic Coast and 301 from the Mediterranean Sea.

Data computation: When raw counts or abundances were provided, we standardised it to relative abundances. The optimos.prime R package [4] was used to calculate the weighted averaging optimum and tolerance level [2][3] of each species to TOC (Fig. 1-2).
<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>

Figure 2. Caterpillar plot showing the optimum (green dots) and tolerance range (bars) to TOC of benthic foraminiferal species in the English Channel/European Atlantic intertidal areas and transitional waters.
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. Caterpillar plot showing the optimum (green dots) and tolerance range (bars) to TOC of benthic foraminiferal species in the Mediterranean Sea intertidal areas and transitional waters.</figcaption></figure>

In order to illustrate the typical response of species from each ecological group along the TOC gradient, a locally weighted scatterplot smooth line (LOESS) was fitted through each scatter plot (see Fig.5-6 in [1]). Marginal plots were added to each scatter plot to show the frequency of distribution of occurrences along the TOC gradient. The median of the distribution of the occurrences was also computed. The R code includes the following packages: ggpubr, ggExtra, cowplot, mgcv.

## Acknowledgments

Maria-Belen Sathicq helped V.M.P.B. in handling the optimos.prime R package. The authors are grateful to the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Agence de l'Eau Artois-Picardie, the Communauté d'Agglomération du Boulonnais, the Université de Lille, the Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, the Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences for their financial support to FOBIMO workshops in Fribourg (Switzerland), Wimereux (France) and Texel (The Netherlands); and to Silvia Spezzaferri and Henko de Stigter for organizing and hosting the workshops in Fribourg and Texel. The authors would like to thank the scientific editor and the anonymous reviewer for their comments that contributed to improve the manuscript.
CRediT author statement

**Vincent M.P. Bouchet**: Conceptualization, Supervision, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing – original draft **Fabrizio Frontalini**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Fabio Francescangeli**: Visualization - Writing – Review & Editing **Pierre-Guy Sauriau**: Formal analysis, Writing – Review & Editing **Emmanuelle Geslin**: Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing **Virginia Martins**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Ahuva Almogi-Labin**: Writing – Review & Editing **Simona Avnaim-Katav**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Letizia Di Bella**: Writing – Review & Editing

**Alejandro Cearreta**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Rodolfo Coccioni**: Writing – Review & Editing **Ashleigh Costelloe**: Writing – Review & Editing **Margarita D. Dimiza**: Writing – Review & Editing

**Luciana Ferraro**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Kristin Haynaert**: Writing – Review & Editing

**Michael Martínez-Colón**: Writing – Review & Editing **Romana Melis**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Magali Schweizer**: Writing – Review & Editing **Maria V. Triantaphyllou**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Akira Tsujimoto**: Writing – Review & Editing **Brent Wilson**: Writing – Review & Editing

**Eric Armynot du Châtelet**: Supervision, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing

**Michael Martínez-Colón**: Writing – Review & Editing **Romana Melis**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Magali Schweizer**: Writing – Review & Editing **Maria V. Triantaphyllou**: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing **Akira Tsujimoto**: Writing – Review & Editing **Brent Wilson**: Writing – Review & Editing

**Eric Armynot du Châtelet**: Supervision, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing

**Eric Armynot du Châtelet**: Supervision, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing

**Eric Armynot du Châtelet**: Supervision, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have or could be perceived to have influenced the work reported in this article.

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