Abiotic forcing of plankton evolution in the Cenozoic
Schmidt, D.N.; Thierstein, H.R.; Bollmann, J.; Schiebel, R. (2004). Abiotic forcing of plankton evolution in the Cenozoic. Science (Wash.) 303(5655): 207-210
In: Science (Washington). American Association for the Advancement of Science: New York, N.Y. ISSN 0036-8075; e-ISSN 1095-9203, more
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| Keywords |
Aquatic communities > Plankton
Biological phenomena > Evolution
Environmental factors > Abiotic factors
Foraminifera
Geological time > Phanerozoic > Geological time > Cenozoic
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top |
- Schmidt, D.N.
- Thierstein, H.R.
- Bollmann, J.
- Schiebel, R.
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| Abstract |
We characterize the evolutionary radiation of planktic foraminifera by the test size distributions of entire assemblages in more than 500 Cenozoic marine sediment samples, including more than 1 million tests. Calibration of Holocene size patterns with environmental parameters and comparisons with Cenozoic paleoproxy data show a consistently positive correlation between test size and surface-water strati.cation intensity.Weinfer that the observed macroevolutionary increase in test size of planktic foraminifera through the Cenozoic was an adaptive response to intensifying surface water stratification in low latitudes, which was driven by polar cooling. |
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