Stergios D Zarkogiannis, James W B Rae, Benjamin R Shipley, P Graham Mortyn
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Planktonic foraminifera are key contributors to the oceanic carbon cycle. In pelagic environments, carbonate production by planktonic biomineralizers regulates ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange and exports surface carbon to the deep ocean. Here we compare shell traits of three planktonic foraminifera species from the central Atlantic with a suite of environmental parameters to discern the factors underlying their variations. Our analysis revealed that calcification in foraminifera is associated with seawater density and depends on species habitat depth, whereas foraminifera bulk shell densities may serve as a seawater density proxy, regardless of species. We observe that their shell weights increased with habitat depth, enabling the living cells to adjust their overall density to match that of the surrounding liquid. This suggests that calcification in nonmotile organisms has a buoyancy regulatory function and will respond to the anthropogenically driven reductions in ocean density (oceanic rarefication), with potential consequences for the carbon cycle.
期刊介绍:
Communications Earth & Environment is an open access journal from Nature Portfolio publishing high-quality research, reviews and commentary in all areas of the Earth, environmental and planetary sciences. Research papers published by the journal represent significant advances that bring new insight to a specialized area in Earth science, planetary science or environmental science.
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