Molecular evolution of the foraminiferal SSU rDNA: prospects and pitfalls

Abstrac

Diversity of rDNA in Chilostomella: molecular differentiation patterns and putative hermit types

Abstrac

Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences

The high sequence divergence within the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) of foraminifera makes it difficult to establish the homology of individual nucleotides across taxa. Alignment-based approaches so far relied on time-consuming manual alignments and discarded up to 50% of the sequenced nucleotides prior to phylogenetic inference. Here, we investigate the potential of the multiple analysis approach to infer a molecular phylogeny of all modern planktonic foraminiferal taxa by using a matrix of 146 new and 153 previously published SSU rDNA sequences. Our multiple analysis approach is based on eleven different automated alignments, analysed separately under the maximum likelihood criterion. The high degree of congruence between the phylogenies derived from our novel approach, traditional manually homologized culled alignments and the fossil record indicates that poorly resolved nucleotide homology does not represent the most significant obstacle when exploring the phylogenetic structure of the SSU rDNA in planktonic foraminifera. We show that approaches designed to extract phylogenetically valuable signals from complete sequences show more promise to resolve the backbone of the planktonic foraminifer tree than attempts to establish strictly homologous base calls in a manual alignment

Living benthic foraminifera in methane- and sulfide-enriched sediments at cold seeps and hydrothermal vents

Abstrac

Recent advances in the study of Eocene planktonic foraminifera

Abstrac

Three hundred eighty thousand year long stable isotope and faunal records from the Red Sea : influence of global sea level change on hydrography

Stable isotope and faunal records from the central Red Sea show high-amplitude oscillations for the past 380,000 years. Positive δ18O anomalies indicate periods of significant salt buildup during periods of lowered sea level when water mass exchange with the Arabian Sea was reduced due to a reduced geometry of the Bab el Mandeb Strait. Salinities as high as 53‰ and 55‰ are inferred from pteropod and benthic foraminifera δ18O, respectively, for the last glacial maximum. During this period all planktonic foraminifera vanished from this part of the Red Sea. Environmental conditions improved rapidly after 13 ka as salinities decreased due to rising sea level. The foraminiferal fauna started to reappear and was fully reestablished between 9 ka and 8 ka. Spectral analysis of the planktonic δ18O record documents highest variance in the orbital eccentricity, obliquity, and precession bands, indicating a dominant influence of climatically - driven sea level change on environmental conditions in the Red Sea. Variance in the precession band is enhanced compared to the global mean marine climate record (SPECMAP), suggesting an additional influence of the Indian monsoon system on Red Sea climates