Palaeoceanographic implications of genetic variation in living North Atlantic Neogloboquadrina pachyderma
The shells of the planktonic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma have become a classical tool for reconstructing glacial-interglacial climate conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean. Palaeoceanographers utilize its left- and right-coiling variants, which exhibit a distinctive reciprocal temperatu...
| Published in: | Nature |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2003
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/ee837a18-06a3-4236-8a3f-d428ffe1263f https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01778 |
| Summary: | The shells of the planktonic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma have become a classical tool for reconstructing glacial-interglacial climate conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean. Palaeoceanographers utilize its left- and right-coiling variants, which exhibit a distinctive reciprocal temperature and water mass related shift in faunal abundance both at present and in late Quaternary sediments. Recently discovered cryptic genetic diversity in planktonic foraminifers now poses significant questions for these studies. Here we report genetic evidence demonstrating that the apparent 'single species' shell-based records of right-coiling N. pachyderma used in palaeoceanographic reconstructions contain an alternation in species as environmental factors change. This is reflected in a species-dependent incremental shift in right-coiling N. pachyderma shell calcite δ |
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