9802672 Sen Gupta This U. S.-Mexico award will support a short-term visit by Prof. B.K. Sen Gupta and L.C. Anderson of Louisiana State University to Prof. M. Machain Castillo of the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). The investigators plan to design a joint research program involving the use of the fossil record of certain foraminifers and molluscs as an indicator of climatic and physiographic conditions associated with tropical seagrass meadows. For that purpose, the researchers intend to study the distribution and ecology of organisms inhabiting extensive seagrass and adjacent habitats along the Gulf and Caribbean shorelines of Mexico. The transport and preservation potential of these organisms will also be studied. The UNAM research team will include ecologists, paleontologists; and oceanographers whose specialties and interests complement those of the LSU team. A better understanding of seagrass ecology and paleoecology will be relevant to coastal management problems of both countries. ***
