الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hallock et al. (2003) developed a numerical index for relating water quality to coral reef health known as the Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index (FORAM Index). FORAM index quantifies the suitability of an environment to support prolific growth of calcifying organisms that host algal endo-symbionts (i.e. zooxanthellate corals and larger benthic foraminifera), and thus coral growth. One informal group, known as larger benthic foraminifers, has evolved symbiotic relationships with algae analogous to those in corals (Hallock, 1999). Larger benthic foraminifera contain endo-symbionts that aid in calcification and food production for the foraminifera in the same way that zooxanthallae are beneficial for coral (Hallock 1999). The endo-symbionts limit the growth of symbiont-bearing foraminifera and coral to the photic zone and to relatively clear and nutrient-poor waters (Hallock et al., 2003). Therefore, the abundance of symbiont-bearing foraminifera should parallel coral abundance, if water quality is the major environmental control. This allows for the use of these foraminifera to quantify environmental quality with respect to coral health. The FORAM index has been applied successfully in many coral reef environmental studies including Australia (Uthicke and Nobes, 2008 and Uthicke et al., 2010), Florida (Ramirez, 2008; Williams, 2009), Brazil (Barbosa et al., 2009) and Indonesia (Natsir and Subkhan, 2011 and Gitaputri et al, 2013). Moreover, the FORAM index has been applied in non-reefal environments such as subtropical estuaries (Carnahan et al., 2009; Narayan and Pandolfi, 2010) and Eastern Mediterranean (Koukousioura et al. 2011).