RAPID CHANGE OF FORAMINIFERAL COMMUNITIES AND ASSEMBLAGES IN THE SETIU ESTUARY, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA: ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVERS

摘要

In November 2013, an artificial inlet was opened in the barrier island that separates the waters of the Setiu estuarylagoon system of Terengganu, Malaysia, from the South China Sea. The inlet was opened to stabilize salinity and improve tidal flushing so that fish-farming could be expanded but, as a result, another inlet that was open in 2009 closed naturally by November 2015. These geomorphic changes caused salinity in the Setiu estuary to undergo significant increase from November 2013 to November 2015.