Can the morphology of deep-sea benthic foraminifera reveal what caused their extinction during the mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition?

Mancin, Nicoletta; Hayward, Bruce W.; Trattenero, I.; Cobianchi, Miriam; Lupi, Claudia

doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2013.09.004

Cited by 26 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…We suggest that the spinose cylindrical taxa most common throughout the studied interval (stilostomellid species of the genus Strictocostella ) [ Hayward et al ., ] may have been shallow infaunally living species, according to their shape, distribution, and carbon isotope signature [ Hayward and Kawagata , ; Hayward et al ., ; Mancin et al ., ], anchored in the sediment by their spines [ Hottinger , ] and suspension feeding in the water column using their pseudopods extended through the complex aperture [e.g., Hottinger, , ; Mancin et al ., ]. Such a lifestyle would be in agreement with suggestions that they were infaunal, k‐strategist taxa with low metabolic rates [ Mancin et al ., ], and rules out the possibility of reworking as the cause of their high numbers in the sediment. Consequently, we suggest that changes in the assemblages over time dominantly reflect changes in current activity (thus food supplied to the benthic foraminifera) rather than changes in primary productivity, even if planktic foraminifera and nannofossils suggest decreased productivity during the PETM [ Kelly et al ., , ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…However, both infaunally positioned suspension feeders anchored by spines and attached epifaunal suspension feeders may be common. We suggest that the spinose cylindrical taxa most common throughout the studied interval (stilostomellid species of the genus Strictocostella ) [ Hayward et al ., ] may have been shallow infaunally living species, according to their shape, distribution, and carbon isotope signature [ Hayward and Kawagata , ; Hayward et al ., ; Mancin et al ., ], anchored in the sediment by their spines [ Hottinger , ] and suspension feeding in the water column using their pseudopods extended through the complex aperture [e.g., Hottinger, , ; Mancin et al ., ]. Such a lifestyle would be in agreement with suggestions that they were infaunal, k‐strategist taxa with low metabolic rates [ Mancin et al ., ], and rules out the possibility of reworking as the cause of their high numbers in the sediment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Paleocene‐middle Eocene benthic foraminifera on a Pacific seamount (Allison Guyot, ODP Site 865): Greenhouse climate and superimposed hyperthermal events

2016

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We investigated the response of late Paleocene-middle Eocene (~60-37.5 Ma) benthic foraminiferal assemblages to long-term climate change and hyperthermal events including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 865 on Allison Guyot, a seamount in the Mid-Pacific Mountains. Seamounts are isolated deep-sea environments where enhanced current systems interrupt bentho-pelagic coupling, and fossil assemblages from such settings have been little evaluated. Assemblages at Site 865 are diverse and dominated by cylindrical calcareous taxa with complex apertures, an extinct group which probably lived infaunally. Dominance of an infaunal morphogroup is unexpected in a highly oligotrophic setting, but these forms may have been shallow infaunal suspension feeders, which were ecologically successful on the current-swept seamount. The magnitude of the PETM extinction at Site 865 was similar to other sites globally, but lower diversity postextinction faunas at this location were affected by ocean acidification as well as changes in current regime, which might have led to increased nutrient supply through trophic focusing. A minor hyperthermal saw less severe effects of changes in current regime, with no evidence for carbonate dissolution. Although the relative abundance of infaunal benthic foraminifera has been used as a proxy for surface productivity through bentho-pelagic coupling, we argue that this proxy can be used only in the absence of changes in carbonate saturation and current-driven biophysical linking.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Paleocene‐middle Eocene benthic foraminifera on a Pacific seamount (Allison Guyot, ODP Site 865): Greenhouse climate and superimposed hyperthermal events

2016

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“…For instance, taxa reflecting highly seasonal deposition of organic matter were generally absent or rare, and cylindrically shaped taxa with complex apertures, which are now extinct, were common [e.g., Thomas and Gooday, 1996;Thomas, 2007;Hayward et al, 2012]. The distribution of these extinct taxa resembles that of buliminids [Hayward et al, 2012], and they were probably infaunal, as confirmed by their δ 13 C values [Mancin et al, 2013]. The living species Nuttallides umbonifera [Bremer and Lohmann, 1982] reaches high relative abundances between lysocline and carbonate compensation depth, and we infer that increases in relative abundance of its ancestral species N. truempyi similarly correlate with poorly saturated waters, as confirmed by its bathymetric occurrences [Thomas, 1998].…”

Section: Sedimentology and Benthic Foraminiferal Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in benthic ecosystems and ocean circulation in the Southeast Atlantic across Eocene Thermal Maximum 2

et al. 2015

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Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) occurred~1.8 Myr after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and, like the PETM, was characterized by a negative carbon isotope excursion and warming. We combined benthic foraminiferal and sedimentological records for Southeast Atlantic Sites 1263 (1500 m paleodepth) and 1262 (3600 m paleodepth) to show that benthic foraminiferal diversity and accumulation rates declined more precipitously and severely at the shallower site during peak ETM2. As the sites are in close proximity, differences in surface productivity cannot have caused this differential effect. Instead, we infer that changes in ocean circulation across ETM2 may have produced more pronounced warming at intermediate depths (Site 1263). The effects of warming include increased metabolic rates, a decrease in effective food supply and increased deoxygenation, thus potentially explaining the more severe benthic impacts at Site 1263. In response, bioturbation may have decreased more at Site 1263 than at Site 1262, differentially affecting bulk carbonate records. We use a sediment-enabled Earth system model to test whether a reduction in bioturbation and/or the likely reduced carbonate saturation of more poorly ventilated waters can explain the more extreme excursion in bulk δ 13 C and sharper transition in wt % CaCO 3 at Site 1263. We find that both enhanced acidification and reduced bioturbation during the ETM2 peak are needed to account for the observed features. Our combined ecological and modeling analysis illustrates the potential role of ocean circulation changes in amplifying local environmental changes and driving temporary, but drastic, loss of benthic biodiversity and abundance.

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“…At Site ODP 1209, the only prominent event recorded by calcareous nannofossils at that time was a drop in the abundance of the genus Reticulofenestra , centered at the MIS24/MIS23 transition; the final decline of this taxon occurred close to the upper boundary of the MPT. This event could have a global meaning as it was recorded also in the Southwestern Pacific (Mancin et al, ). This decrease in abundance, of Reticulofenestra spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Calcareous Nannofossil Response to Climate Variability During the Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 198 Site 1209)

Lupi

Bordiga

Sacchi

et al. 2019

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The Middle Pleistocene Transition represents an important reorganization of climate that switched from a 41‐kyr periodicity to a quasiperiodic 100‐kyr cycle. Here, we have investigated this time interval using calcareous nannofossils from a midlatitude well‐preserved sedimentary record from the Ocean Drilling Program Site 1209 in the North West Pacific Ocean. We studied samples from 1.45 to 0.45 Ma, looking for significant changes in the nannofossil assemblages. Micropaleontological data were processed using an information theoretic model comparison that deconvolutes variations in nannofossil assemblages using different predictors. The major findings are that calcareous nannofossils permit the detection of discrete events during the Middle Pleistocene Transition. They display three different associations belonging, respectively, to the 41‐kyr world, the transition, and the 100‐kyr world. The statistical approach demonstrated that nannofossils responded abruptly at the boundaries of the transition developing in two rapid steps superimposed on a more gradual process. Moreover, a strong decrease in the genus Reticulofenestra and the beginning of the Gephyrocapsa caribbeanica acme permitted us to pinpoint climate events within the Middle Pleistocene Transition. Finally, through the nannofossil paleoecology, we documented an anomalous long‐term warming trend that could be related to an intensification of the Walker circulation and the stabilization of long‐term conditions like La Niña at the midlatitudes of the NW Pacific during the Middle Pleistocene Transition.

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Can the morphology of deep-sea benthic foraminifera reveal what caused their extinction during the mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition?

Cited by 26 publications

References 54 publications

Late Paleocene‐middle Eocene benthic foraminifera on a Pacific seamount (Allison Guyot, ODP Site 865): Greenhouse climate and superimposed hyperthermal events

Late Paleocene‐middle Eocene benthic foraminifera on a Pacific seamount (Allison Guyot, ODP Site 865): Greenhouse climate and superimposed hyperthermal events

Changes in benthic ecosystems and ocean circulation in the Southeast Atlantic across Eocene Thermal Maximum 2

Calcareous Nannofossil Response to Climate Variability During the Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 198 Site 1209)

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