Rose Bengal staining of foraminifera is considered a reliable method of distinguishing dead (unstained) from living (stained) foraminifera (Lutze and Altenbach, 1991; Alve and Bernhard, 1995), although under certain circumstances preserved, post mortem protoplasm can remain stainable some time after death (Bernhard, 1988, 1989).
The samples were stored in 70% ethanol buffered to pH 9 with borax.
All stained foraminifera in the 100- and the 63-mm fractions were counted in each sample. The foraminifera
were picked with a Pasteur pipette and dried at 20ºC on a filter paper.
Foraminifera belonging to the genus Elphidium in the 63-mm fraction could
only be determined to genus level and are reported
as Elphidium spp.