1,721,014 research outputs found
The boron isotope approach to paleo-pCO2 estimation (abstract of paper presented at 12th Annual V.M. Goldschmidt Conference, Davos, Switzerland, August 18-23, 2002)
No full textPalaeoecology of some extreme 'clavate' planktonic foraminifera from the Cretaceous to recent
No full textA 23,000-year record of surface water pH and PCO2 in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean
No full textThe oceans play a major role in defining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, and although the geographical distribution of CO2 uptake and release in the modern ocean is understood, little is known about past distributions. Boron isotope studies of planktonic foraminifera from the western equatorial Pacific show that this area was a strong source of CO2 to the atmosphere between approximately 13,800 and 15,600 years ago. This observation is most compatible with increased frequency of La Niña conditions during this interval. Hence, increased upwelling in the eastern equatorial Pacific may have played an important role in the rise in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation
Palaeoecology of late middle Eocene planktic foraminifera and evolutionary implications
No full textThe late middle Eocene is marked by accelerated global cooling, representing part of the long transitional interval separating the early Eocene ‘greenhouse’ and later Oligocene ‘icehouse’ climatic regimes. This time interval is also regarded as having witnessed a decline in planktic foraminiferal diversity following the extinction of most of the muricate clade (genera Acarinina and Morozovelloides) at approximately 39 Ma. Here we examine planktic foraminiferal assemblages recovered at ODP Site 1052 (Blake Nose, NW Atlantic) and, by recording a high level of taxonomic diversity including several previously undocumented morphotypes, we suggest that the diversity of late middle Eocene planktic foraminifera may have been underestimated. Depth habitats of every species within these late middle Eocene assemblages are reconstructed using oxygen and carbon stable isotope ratios. Furthermore, because stable isotope analyses suggest that species of Globoturborotalita appear to have generally calcified during winter months, these taxa offer, in combination with predominantly summer surface dwellers such as Morozovelloides, the potential to reconstruct patterns of seasonality during the late Palaeogene. Using extremely well preserved ‘glassy’ planktic foraminiferal calcite from a contemporaneous hemipelagic drill site, detailed SEM imaging of test microstructures and wall textures confirm that many modern features of foraminiferal ecology and test architecture had already evolved by the late middle Eocene. The common occurrence of the cancellate wall texture, combined with the wide variety of reconstructed foraminiferal depth habitats, indicates that there is no necessary relationship between foraminiferal wall textures and habitat and that wall textures are evolutionary conservative features of the foraminiferal test. <br/
The meaning of birth and death (in macroevolutionary birth-death models)
No full textBirth–death models are central to much macroevolutionary theory. The fundamental parameters of these models concern durations. Different species concepts realize different species durations because they represent different ideas of what birth (speciation) and death (extinction) mean. Here, we use Cenozoic macroperforate planktonic foraminifera as a case study to ask: what are the dynamical consequences of changing the definition of birth and death? We show strong evidence for biotic constraints on diversification using evolutionary species, but less with morphospecies. Discussing reasons for this discrepancy, we emphasize that clarity of species concept leads to clarity of meaning when interpreting macroevolutionary birth–death models
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