ALBERT

Beschreibung: Crust formation is a common phenomenon in planktonic foraminifera. Because of their different formation mechanism and hence composition, crusts affect the overall test composition and therefore complicate the use of crust-bearing foraminifera in paleoceanography. Such species are often used to estimate subsurface paleotemperatures and although the influence of the crust on the trace element/Ca ratio is recognised, it has not been systematically explored between and within tests. Here we use laser ablation ICP-MS to assess the variability in trace element composition of the crust of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei within individual chambers, as well as the effect of compositional heterogeneity of the crust on whole test chemistry. Compositionally, the outer crust differs from inner layer by lower Mg/Ca and Mn/Ca, but is indistinguishable in Sr/Ca. Crust thickness decreases towards the younger chambers and it may be entirely absent from the last chamber. In contrast to Mn/Ca and Sr/Ca, crustal Mg/Ca ratios show a tendency towards higher values on the younger chambers. These patterns in crust thickness and in crust Mg/Ca indicates that temperature is not the dominant factor controlling crust composition. Temperature estimates based on N. dutertrei, and presumably other crust-forming species too, are therefore biased towards too low values. Through comparison of modern and glacial tests we show that this bias is not constant and that changes in the crust thickness and/or in the Mg/Ca values can spuriously suggest temperature changes.

Beschreibung: Synchronised reproduction offers clear benefits to planktonic foraminifera – an important group of marine calcifiers – as it increases the chances of successful gamete fusion. Such synchrony requires tuning to an internal or external clock. Evidence exists for lunar reproductive cycles in some species, but its recognition in shell flux time series has proven difficult, raising questions about reproductive strategies. Using spectral analysis of a 6 year time series (mostly at weekly resolution) from the northern Gulf of Mexico we show that the shell flux of Globorotalia menardii, Globigerinella siphonifera, Orbulina universa, Globigerinoides sacculifer and in Globigerinoides ruber (both pink and white varieties) is characterised by lunar periodicity. The fluxes of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinella calida, Globorotalia crassaformis and Globigerinita glutinata do not show significant spectral power at the lunar frequency. If present, lunar periodicity is superimposed on longer term/seasonal changes in the shell fluxes, but accounts for a significant part of the variance in the fluxes. The amplitude of the lunar cycle increases roughly proportional with the magnitude of the flux, demonstrating that most of the population is indeed affected by lunar-phased synchronisation. Phasing of peak fluxes appears species-specific, with G. menardii, O. universa and G. sacculifer showing most peaks around the full moon and G. ruber one week later. Contrastingly, peaks G. siphonifera occur dominantly around new moon. Very limited literature exists on lunar phasing of foraminiferal export fluxes, but spatial differences in its presence may exist, corroborating the exogenous nature of lunar synchrony in planktonic foraminifera.

Beschreibung: Shell fluxes of planktonic foraminifera species vary intra-annually in a pattern that appears to follow the seasonal cycle. However, the variation in the timing and prominence of seasonal flux maxima in space and among species remain poorly constrained. Thus, although changing seasonality may result in a flux-weighted temperature offset of more than 5 °C within a species, this effect is often ignored in the interpretation of foraminifera-based paleoceanographic records. Here we present an analysis of the intra-annual pattern of shell flux variability in 37 globally distributed time series. The existence of a seasonal component in flux variability was objectively characterised using periodic regression. This analysis yielded estimates of the number, timing and prominence of seasonal flux maxima. Over 80% of the flux series across all species showed a statistically significant periodic component, indicating that a considerable part of the intra-annual flux variability is predictable. Temperature appears to be a powerful predictor of flux seasonality, but its effect differs among species. Three different modes of seasonality are distinguishable. Tropical and subtropical species (G. ruber (white and pink varieties), N. dutertrei, G. sacculifer, O. universa, G. siphonifera, P. obliquiloculata, G. menardii, G. rubescens, G. tenella and G. conglobatus) appear to have a less predictable flux pattern with random peak timing in warm waters. In colder waters, seasonality is more prevalent: peak fluxes occur shortly after summer temperature maxima and peak prominence increases. This tendency is stronger in species with a narrower temperature range, implying that warm-adapted species find it increasingly difficult to reproduce outside their optimum temperature range and that with decreasing mean temperature, their flux is progressively focussed into the warm season. The second group includes the temperate to cold-water species Globigerina bulloides, G. glutinata, N. incompta, N. pachyderma, G. scitula, G. calida, G. falconensis, G. theyeri and G. uvula. These species show a highly predictable seasonal pattern with one to two peaks a year, which occur earlier in warmer waters. Peak prominence in this group is independent of temperature. The earlier-when-warmer pattern in this group is related to the timing of productivity maxima. Finally, the deep dwelling G. truncatulinoides and G. inflata show a regular and pronounced peak in winter/spring. The remarkably low flux outside the main pulse may indicate a long reproductive cycle of these species. Overall, our analysis indicates that the seasonality of planktonic foraminifera shell flux is predictable and reveals the existence of distinct modes of phenology among species. We evaluate the effect of changing seasonality on paleoceanographic reconstructions and find that, irrespective of the seasonality mode, the actual magnitude of environmental change will be underestimated. The observed constraints on flux seasonality can serve as the basis for predictive modelling of flux pattern. As long as the diversity of species seasonality is accounted for in such models, the results can be used to improve reconstructions of the magnitude of environmental change in paleoceanographic records.

Beschreibung: Shell fluxes of planktonic Foraminifera species vary intra-annually in a pattern that appears to follow the seasonal cycle. However, the variation in the timing and prominence of seasonal flux maxima in space and among species remains poorly constrained. Thus, although changing seasonality may result in a flux-weighted temperature offset of more than 5° C within a species, this effect is often ignored in the interpretation of Foraminifera-based paleoceanographic records. To address this issue we present an analysis of the intra-annual pattern of shell flux variability in 37 globally distributed time series. The existence of a seasonal component in flux variability was objectively characterised using periodic regression. This analysis yielded estimates of the number, timing and prominence of seasonal flux maxima. Over 80% of the flux series across all species showed a statistically significant periodic component, indicating that a considerable part of the intra-annual flux variability is predictable. Temperature appears to be a powerful predictor of flux seasonality, but its effect differs among species. Three different modes of seasonality are distinguishable. Tropical and subtropical species (Globigerinoides ruber (white and pink varieties), Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinoides sacculifer, Orbulina universa, Globigerinella siphonifera, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Globorotalia menardii, Globoturborotalita rubescens, Globoturborotalita tenella and Globigerinoides conglobatus) appear to have a less predictable flux pattern, with random peak timing in warm waters. In colder waters, seasonality is more prevalent: peak fluxes occur shortly after summer temperature maxima and peak prominence increases. This tendency is stronger in species with a narrower temperature range, implying that warm-adapted species find it increasingly difficult to reproduce outside their optimum temperature range and that, with decreasing mean temperature, their flux is progressively more focussed in the warm season. The second group includes the temperate to cold-water species Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinita glutinata, Turborotalita quinqueloba, Neogloboquadrina incompta, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Globorotalia scitula, Globigerinella calida, Globigerina falconensis, Globorotalia theyeri and Globigerinita uvula. These species show a highly predictable seasonal pattern, with one to two peaks a year, which occur earlier in warmer waters. Peak prominence in this group is independent of temperature. The earlier-when-warmer pattern in this group is related to the timing of productivity maxima. Finally, the deep-dwelling Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia inflata show a regular and pronounced peak in winter and spring. The remarkably low flux outside the main pulse may indicate a long reproductive cycle of these species. Overall, our analysis indicates that the seasonality of planktonic Foraminifera shell flux is predictable and reveals the existence of distinct modes of phenology among species. We evaluate the effect of changing seasonality on paleoceanographic reconstructions and find that, irrespective of the seasonality mode, the actual magnitude of environmental change will be underestimated. The observed constraints on flux seasonality can serve as the basis for predictive modelling of flux pattern. As long as the diversity of species seasonality is accounted for in such models, the results can be used to improve reconstructions of the magnitude of environmental change in paleoceanographic records.

Beschreibung: Crust formation is a common phenomenon in planktonic foraminifera. Because of their different formation mechanism and hence composition, crusts affect the overall test composition and therefore complicate the use of crust-bearing foraminifera in paleoceanography. Such species are often used to estimate subsurface paleotemperatures, and although the influence of encrustation on the trace element/Ca ratio is recognised, it has not been systematically explored between and within tests. Here we use laser ablation ICP-MS to assess the variability in trace element composition of the crust of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei within individual chambers, as well as the effect of compositional heterogeneity of the crust on whole test chemistry. Compositionally, the outer crust differs from inner layer by lower Mg/Ca and Mn/Ca, but is indistinguishable in Sr/Ca. Crust thickness decreases towards the younger chambers, and it may be entirely absent from the last chamber. In contrast to Mn/Ca and Sr/Ca, crustal Mg/Ca ratios show a tendency towards higher values on the younger chambers. These patterns in crust thickness and in crust Mg/Ca indicate that temperature is not the dominant factor controlling crust composition. Temperature estimates based on N. dutertrei, and presumably other crust-forming species too, are therefore biased towards too low values. Through comparison of modern and glacial tests, we show that this bias is not constant and that changes in crust thickness and/or in Mg/Ca values can spuriously suggest temperature changes.

Beschreibung: Synchronised reproduction offers clear benefits to planktonic foraminifera – an important group of marine calcifiers – as it increases the chances of successful gamete fusion. Such synchrony requires tuning to an internal or external clock. Evidence exists for lunar reproductive cycles in some species, but its recognition in shell flux time series has proven difficult, raising questions about reproductive strategies. Using spectral analysis of a 4-year time series (mostly at weekly resolution) from the northern Gulf of Mexico, we show that the shell flux of Globorotalia menardii, Globigerinella siphonifera, Orbulina universa, Globigerinoides sacculifer, Globigerinoides ruber (both pink and white varieties), Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinella calida and Globigerinita glutinata is characterised by lunar periodicity. However, the lunar rhythm is not present in all size fractions of each species and tends to be more dominant in the flux of larger shells, consistent with reproduction being more prevalent in larger specimens. Lunar periodicity is superimposed on longer term/seasonal changes in the shell fluxes, but accounts for a significant part of the variance in the fluxes. The amplitude of the lunar cycle increases roughly proportional with the magnitude of the flux, demonstrating that most of the population is indeed affected by lunar-phased synchronisation. In most species peak fluxes occur predominantly around, or just after, full moon. Only G. siphonifera and G. calida show a contrasting pattern with peaks concentrated around new moon. Although the exact cause of the synchronisation remains elusive, our data considerably increase the number of species for which lunar synchronised reproduction is reported and suggest that such reproductive behaviour is common in many species of planktonic foraminifera.

Beschreibung: Data is an important foundation of scientific progress. It allows us to contrast hypotheses with observational evidence. Sharing and providing data openly have a long tradition in paleoenvironmental research, supported by repositories such as WDS-Paleo, PANGAEA,and Neotoma.