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Adaptations of Coccolithophore Size to Selective Pressures During the Oligocene to Early Miocene High CO 2 World
Author(s) -
Guitián José,
Dunkley Jones Tom,
HernándezAlmeida Ivan,
Löffel Tim,
Stoll Heather M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
paleoceanography and paleoclimatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.927
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 2572-4525
pISSN - 2572-4517
DOI - 10.1029/2020pa003918
Subject(s) - coccolithophore , coccolith , phytoplankton , ocean acidification , cenozoic , oceanography , emiliania huxleyi , cell size , algae , ecology , geology , paleontology , carbonate , environmental science , biology , chemistry , nutrient , climate change , organic chemistry , structural basin , microbiology and biotechnology
Culture experiments with coccolithophore algae—the dominant group of marine calcifying phytoplankton—imply a strong sensitivity in growth rate, degree of cellular calcification, and cell size to changes in the carbon chemistry of their growth environment. These results underpin recent studies that have explored how these physiological parameters have varied on geological time scales, in response to changing surface ocean habitats and the concentrations of carbon in the ocean‐atmosphere system. Here, we add to this work with a study of reticulofenestrid coccolith size—the dominant coccolithophore family of the Cenozoic—over the Oligocene to Early Miocene time interval. We examine sediments from contrasting latitudes and regional environmental settings, comparing sites using coherent, updated age models to distinguish globally synchronous trends in cell size from regional trends. Our results confirm several changes in coccolith size—which is strongly correlated to cell size—that are globally reproducible within the ~1 Myr age uncertainty, including a reduction in mean size by >2 μm from 30.2 to 27 and 24.5 to 23 Ma, and then increase in mean size after 20 Ma. The main difference among regions is the presence/absence of coccoliths larger than 8 μm. We evaluate which scenarios of change in carbon dioxide, temperature, and nutrient availability could have exerted selective pressure on cell size for different size classes to produce the observed size trends at each studied site. These million‐year scale adaptations of ancient coccolithophores contribute to the understanding of phytoplankton physiology in the transition to the modern “icehouse” world.