scholarly journals Harmful algae and export production collapse in the equatorial Atlantic during the zenith of Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum warmth

Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margot J. Cramwinckel ◽  
Robin van der Ploeg ◽  
Peter K. Bijl ◽  
Francien Peterse ◽  
Steven M. Bohaty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Harmful Algae ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Export Production ◽  
Climatic Optimum

‘Bleaching’ of Photosymbionts in Planktic Foraminifera During the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 141-141
Author(s):  
Kirsty M. Edgar ◽  
Stephen M. Bohaty ◽  
Samantha J. Gibbs ◽  
Philip F. Sexton ◽  
Richard D. Norris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Planktic Foraminifera ◽  
Climatic Optimum

Rise and fall of rotaliids in the Paleocene-Eocene: the influence of climate and trophic competition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Benedetti ◽  
Cesare Andrea Papazzoni ◽  
Francesca Romana Bosellini
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Trophic Conditions ◽  
Significant Drop ◽  
Abrupt Decrease ◽  
Faunal Turnover ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Early Eocene Climatic Optimum ◽  
Climatic Optimum ◽  
Larger Foraminifers

<p>It is largely accepted that climate plays a pivotal role in the diversification of shallow-water communities, with special regards to larger foraminifera (LF), also because increase of surface water temperatures is often accompanied by change in trophic conditions. The shift from widespread eutrophic to oligotrophic conditions in shallow seas probably contributed to the LF differentiation during Paleocene-Eocene times. However, there are few recent attempts to quantify the changes in biodiversity and to correlate them with the global climatic events of the Paleogene. We concentrated our attention on the group of rotaliids, resilient taxa that partially survived after the mass extinction occurred at the end of the Cretaceous.</p><p>Our data show that their differentiation at genus level was very rapid, reaching its maximum already in the late Danian SB2 Zone. Specific diversification, instead, culminated in late Thanetian SB4 Zone. A second peak in specific diversity is recorded during the Cuisian (upper part of the Ypresian), then rotaliid diversity steadily declined, as long as other groups of larger foraminifers, especially <em>Alveolina </em>and <em>Nummulites</em>, became more competitive and proliferated with a large number of species up to the Bartonian SB17 Zone, when a significant drop in rotaliid biodiversity is recorded.</p><p>Differently to other taxonomic groups, i.e., alveolinids and nummulitids, for which a single genus during the whole Eocene generated numerous species, rotaliid genera are usually characterized by a low number of species, possibly due to the re-opening of ecological niches after the abrupt decrease of diversity that followed the PETM event. The competition with other K-strategist LF probably contributed to the decline of rotaliids in the middle Eocene up to the MECO event, where a last dramatic drop is recorded.</p><p>The major changes appear strictly linked to warming events such as the Late Danian Event (LDE, starting of the generic diversification of rotaliids), Paleocene Eocene Termal Maximum (PETM, faunal turnover followed by abrupt decrease in both generic and specific diversity), Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO, increase in number of K-strategists under widespread oligotrophic conditions) and Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO, ultimate drop in diversity and competition with other larger foraminifers).</p><p>This study was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (MIUR), funds PRIN 2017: project “Biota resilience to global change: biomineralization of planktic and benthic calcifiers in the past, present and future” (prot. 2017RX9XXY).</p>

scholarly journals A 40-million-year history of atmospheric CO 2

2013 ◽  
Vol 371 (2001) ◽  
pp. 20130096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Ge Zhang ◽  
Mark Pagani ◽  
Zhonghui Liu ◽  
Steven M. Bohaty ◽  
Robert DeConto
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Algal Growth ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range

The alkenone– p CO 2 methodology has been used to reconstruct the partial pressure of ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide ( p CO 2 ) for the past 45 million years of Earth's history (Middle Eocene to Pleistocene epochs). The present long-term CO 2 record is a composite of data from multiple ocean localities that express a wide range of oceanographic and algal growth conditions that potentially bias CO 2 results. In this study, we present a p CO 2 record spanning the past 40 million years from a single marine locality, Ocean Drilling Program Site 925 located in the western equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The trends and absolute values of our new CO 2 record site are broadly consistent with previously published multi-site alkenone–CO 2 results. However, new p CO 2 estimates for the Middle Miocene are notably higher than published records, with average p CO 2 concentrations in the range of 400–500 ppm. Our results are generally consistent with recent p CO 2 estimates based on boron isotope-pH data and stomatal index records, and suggest that CO 2 levels were highest during a period of global warmth associated with the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (17–14 million years ago, Ma), followed by a decline in CO 2 during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (approx. 14 Ma). Several relationships remain contrary to expectations. For example, benthic foraminiferal δ 18 O records suggest a period of deglaciation and/or high-latitude warming during the latest Oligocene (27–23 Ma) that, based on our results, occurred concurrently with a long-term decrease in CO 2 levels. Additionally, a large positive δ 18 O excursion near the Oligocene–Miocene boundary (the Mi-1 event, approx. 23 Ma), assumed to represent a period of glacial advance and retreat on Antarctica, is difficult to explain by our CO 2 record alone given what is known of Antarctic ice sheet history and the strong hysteresis of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet once it has grown to continental dimensions. We also demonstrate that in the Neogene with low CO 2 levels, algal carbon concentrating mechanisms and spontaneous biocarbonate–CO 2 conversions are likely to play a more important role in algal carbon fixation, which provides a potential bias to the alkenone– p CO 2 method.

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