Biotopes of recent benthonic foraminifera in Pitt Water,broken Bay,N.S.W. (Australia)

Q-mode cluster analysis has been applied to a foraminiferal fauna from Pitt Water, N.S.W. (Australia), in order to define biotopes and their geographic extent. By successive elimination of the less commonly occurring species several biotope pattenrs have been obtained and mapped.These different sub-populations indicate that a large population has to be taken into consideration before cluster analysis can be successfully used.The biotopes determined show a meaningful relationship with the bottom topography and with the other environmental parameters.