Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Past global warming events such as the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM—56 Ma) are attributed to the release of vast amounts of carbon into the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere with recovery ascribed to a combination of silicate weathering and organic carbon burial. The phytoplanktonic nannopl...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
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Language: | English |
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2018
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/186675202/rsta.2017.0075.pdf |
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ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe 2024-01-28T10:08:22+01:00 Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum Gibbs, Samantha J Sheward, Rosie Bown, Paul R Poulton, Alex J Alvarez, Sarah 2018-10 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1983/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/186675202/rsta.2017.0075.pdf eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Gibbs , S J , Sheward , R , Bown , P R , Poulton , A J & Alvarez , S 2018 , ' Warm plankton soup and red herrings : Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ' , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences , vol. 376 , no. 2130 , 20170075 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 article 2018 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 2024-01-04T23:56:59Z Past global warming events such as the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM—56 Ma) are attributed to the release of vast amounts of carbon into the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere with recovery ascribed to a combination of silicate weathering and organic carbon burial. The phytoplanktonic nannoplankton are major contributors of organic and inorganic carbon but their role in this recovery process remains poorly understood and complicated by their contribution to marine calcification. Biocalcification is implicated not only in long-term carbon burial but also both short-term positive and negative climatic feedbacks associated with seawater buffering and responses to ocean acidification. Here, we use exceptional records of preserved fossil coccospheres to reconstruct cell size distribution, biomass production (particulate organic carbon, POC) and (particulate) inorganic carbon (PIC) yields of three contrasting nannoplankton communities (Bass River—outer shelf, Maud Rise—uppermost bathyal, Shatsky Rise—open ocean) through the PETM onset and recovery. Each of the sites shows contrasting community responses across the PETM as a function of their taxic composition and total community biomass. Our results indicate that nannoplankton PIC:POC had no role in short-term climate feedback and, as such, their importance as a source of CO2 to the environment is a red herring. It is nevertheless likely that shifts to greater numbers of smaller cells at the shelf site in particular led to greater carbon transfer efficiency, and that nannoplankton productivity and export across the shelves had a significant modulating effect on carbon sequestration during the PETM recovery. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification University of Bristol: Bristol Research Maud Rise ENVELOPE(3.000,3.000,-66.000,-66.000) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 376 2130 20170075 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
op_collection_id |
ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
description |
Past global warming events such as the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM—56 Ma) are attributed to the release of vast amounts of carbon into the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere with recovery ascribed to a combination of silicate weathering and organic carbon burial. The phytoplanktonic nannoplankton are major contributors of organic and inorganic carbon but their role in this recovery process remains poorly understood and complicated by their contribution to marine calcification. Biocalcification is implicated not only in long-term carbon burial but also both short-term positive and negative climatic feedbacks associated with seawater buffering and responses to ocean acidification. Here, we use exceptional records of preserved fossil coccospheres to reconstruct cell size distribution, biomass production (particulate organic carbon, POC) and (particulate) inorganic carbon (PIC) yields of three contrasting nannoplankton communities (Bass River—outer shelf, Maud Rise—uppermost bathyal, Shatsky Rise—open ocean) through the PETM onset and recovery. Each of the sites shows contrasting community responses across the PETM as a function of their taxic composition and total community biomass. Our results indicate that nannoplankton PIC:POC had no role in short-term climate feedback and, as such, their importance as a source of CO2 to the environment is a red herring. It is nevertheless likely that shifts to greater numbers of smaller cells at the shelf site in particular led to greater carbon transfer efficiency, and that nannoplankton productivity and export across the shelves had a significant modulating effect on carbon sequestration during the PETM recovery. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gibbs, Samantha J Sheward, Rosie Bown, Paul R Poulton, Alex J Alvarez, Sarah |
spellingShingle |
Gibbs, Samantha J Sheward, Rosie Bown, Paul R Poulton, Alex J Alvarez, Sarah Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
author_facet |
Gibbs, Samantha J Sheward, Rosie Bown, Paul R Poulton, Alex J Alvarez, Sarah |
author_sort |
Gibbs, Samantha J |
title |
Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
title_short |
Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
title_full |
Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
title_fullStr |
Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Warm plankton soup and red herrings:Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum |
title_sort |
warm plankton soup and red herrings:calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the paleocene-eocene thermal maximum |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/b4685451-189f-4692-9d00-cf94014dfbbe https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/186675202/rsta.2017.0075.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(3.000,3.000,-66.000,-66.000) |
geographic |
Maud Rise |
geographic_facet |
Maud Rise |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Gibbs , S J , Sheward , R , Bown , P R , Poulton , A J & Alvarez , S 2018 , ' Warm plankton soup and red herrings : Calcareous nannoplankton cellular communities and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ' , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences , vol. 376 , no. 2130 , 20170075 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0075 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
container_volume |
376 |
container_issue |
2130 |
container_start_page |
20170075 |
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1789337007622717440 |