The Application of Long-Lived Bivalve Sclerochronology in Environmental Baseline Monitoring

Assessments of the impact of construction, operation and removal of large infrastructures and other human activities on the marine environment are limited because they do not fully quantify the background baseline conditions and relevant scales of natural variability. Baselines as defined in Environmental Impact Assessments typically reflect the status of the environment and its variability drawn from published literature and augmented with some short term site specific characterization. Consequently, it can be difficult to determine whether a change in the environment subsequent to industrial activity is within or outside the range of natural background variability representative of an area over decades or centuries. An innovative approach that shows some promise in overcoming the limitations of traditional baseline monitoring methodology involves the analysis of shell material (sclerochronology) from molluscs living upon or within the seabed in potentially affected areas. Bivalves especially can be effective biomonitors of their environment over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. A rapidly expanding body of research has established that numerous characteristics of the environment can be reflected in morphological and geochemical properties of the carbonate shell material in bivalve shells, as well as in functional responses such as growth rates. In addition, the annual banding pattern in shells can provide an absolute chronometer of environmental variability and/or industrial effects. Further, some species of very long-lived bivalves can be crossdated back in time, like trees, by comparing the annual banding patterns in their shells. It is therefore feasible to develop extended timeseries of certain marine environmental variables that can provide important insights into long temporal scales of baseline variability. We review recent innovative work on the shell structure, morphology and geochemistry of bivalves and conclude that they have substantial potential for use as monitors of environmental variability and the effects of pollutants and disturbance

Profiling planktonic foraminiferal crust formation

Planktonic foraminifera migrate vertically through the water column during their life, thereby growing and calcifying over a range of depth-associated conditions. Some species form a calcite veneer, crust, or cortex at the end of their lifecycle. This additional calcite layer may vary in structure, composition, and thickness, potentially accounting for most of their total shell mass and thereby dominating the element and isotope signature of the whole shell. Here we apply laser ablation ICP-MS depth profiling to assess variability in thickness and Mg/Ca composition of shell walls of three encrusting species derived from sediment traps. Compositionally, Mg/Ca is significantly lower in the crusts of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Globorotalia scitula, as well as in the cortex of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, independent of the species-specific Mg/Ca of their lamellar calcite shell. Wall thickness accounts for nearly half of the total thickness in both crustal species and nearly a third in cortical P. obliquiloculata, regardless of their initial shell wall thickness. Crust thickness and crustal Mg/Ca decreases toward the younger chambers in N. dutertrei and to a lesser extent, also in G. scitula. In contrast, the cortex of P. obliquiloculata shows a nearly constant thickness and uniform Mg/Ca through the complete chamber wall. Patterns in thickness and Mg/Ca of the crust indicate that temperature is not the dominant factor controlling crust formation. Instead, we present a depth-resolved model explaining compositional differences within individuals and between successive chambers as well as compositional heterogeneity of the crust and lamellar calcite in all three species studied here

Profiling planktonic foraminiferal crust formation

Planktonic foraminifera migrate vertically through the water column during their life, thereby growing and calcifying over a range of depth-associated conditions. Some species form a calcite veneer, crust, or cortex at the end of their lifecycle. This additional calcite layer may vary in structure, composition, and thickness, potentially accounting for most of their total shell mass and thereby dominating the element and isotope signature of the whole shell. Here we apply laser ablation ICP-MS depth profiling to assess variability in thickness and Mg/Ca composition of shell walls of three encrusting species derived from sediment traps. Compositionally, Mg/Ca is significantly lower in the crusts of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Globorotalia scitula, as well as in the cortex of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, independent of the species-specific Mg/Ca of their lamellar calcite shell. Wall thickness accounts for nearly half of the total thickness in both crustal species and nearly a third in cortical P. obliquiloculata, regardless of their initial shell wall thickness. Crust thickness and crustal Mg/Ca decreases toward the younger chambers in N. dutertrei and to a lesser extent, also in G. scitula. In contrast, the cortex of P. obliquiloculata shows a nearly constant thickness and uniform Mg/Ca through the complete chamber wall. Patterns in thickness and Mg/Ca of the crust indicate that temperature is not the dominant factor controlling crust formation. Instead, we present a depth-resolved model explaining compositional differences within individuals and between successive chambers as well as compositional heterogeneity of the crust and lamellar calcite in all three species studied here