Global record of “ghost” nannofossils reveals plankton resilience to high CO_{2} and warming

Predictions of how marine calcifying organisms will respond to climate change rely heavily on the fossil record of nannoplankton. Declines in calcium carbonate (CaCO_{3}) and nannofossil abundance through several past global warming events have been interpreted as biocalcification crises caused by ocean acidification and related factors. We present a global record of imprint—or “ghost”—nannofossils that contradicts this view, revealing exquisitely preserved nannoplankton throughout an inferred Jurassic biocalcification crisis. Imprints from two further Cretaceous warming events confirm that the fossil records of these intervals have been strongly distorted by CaCO3 dissolution. Although the rapidity of present-day climate change exceeds the temporal resolution of most fossil records, complicating direct comparison with past warming events, our findings demonstrate that nannoplankton were more resilient to past events than traditional fossil evidence suggests

Functional diversity of marine ecosystems after the Late Permian mass extinction event

Article can be accessed from http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n3/full/ngeo2079.htmlThe Late Permian mass extinction event was the most severe such crisis of the past 500 million years and occurred during an episode of global warming. It is assumed to have had significant ecological impact, but its effects on marine ecosystem functioning are unknown and the patterns of marine recovery are debated. We analysed the fossil occurrences of all known Permian-Triassic benthic marine genera and assigned each to a functional group based on their inferred life habit. We show that despite the selective extinction of 62-74% of marine genera there was no significant loss of functional diversity at the global scale, and only one novel mode of life originated in the extinction aftermath. Early Triassic marine ecosystems were not as ecologically depauperate as widely assumed, which explains the absence of a Cambrian-style Triassic radiation in higher taxa. Functional diversity was, however, significantly reduced in particular regions and habitats, such as tropical reefs, and at these scales recovery varied spatially and temporally, probably driven by migration of surviving groups. Marine ecosystems did not return to their pre-extinction state, however, and radiation of previously subordinate groups such as motile, epifaunal grazers led to greater functional evenness by the Middle Triassic

The Impact of Global Warming and Anoxia on Marine Benthic Community Dynamics: an Example from the Toarcian (Early Jurassic)

The Pliensbachian-Toarcian (Early Jurassic) fossil record is an archive of natural data of benthic community response to global warming and marine long-term hypoxia and anoxia. In the early Toarcian mean temperatures increased by the same order of magnitude as that predicted for the near future; laminated, organic-rich, black shales were deposited in many shallow water epicontinental basins; and a biotic crisis occurred in the marine realm, with the extinction of approximately 5% of families and 26% of genera. High-resolution quantitative abundance data of benthic invertebrates were collected from the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire, UK), and analysed with multivariate statistical methods to detect how the fauna responded to environmental changes during the early Toarcian. Twelve biofacies were identified. Their changes through time closely resemble the pattern of faunal degradation and recovery observed in modern habitats affected by anoxia. All four successional stages of community structure recorded in modern studies are recognised in the fossil data (i.e. Stage III: climax; II: transitional; I: pioneer; 0: highly disturbed). Two main faunal turnover events occurred: (i) at the onset of anoxia, with the extinction of most benthic species and the survival of a few adapted to thrive in low-oxygen conditions (Stages I to 0) and (ii) in the recovery, when newly evolved species colonized the re-oxygenated soft sediments and the path of recovery did not retrace of pattern of ecological degradation (Stages I to II). The ordination of samples coupled with sedimentological and palaeotemperature proxy data indicate that the onset of anoxia and the extinction horizon coincide with both a rise in temperature and sea level. Our study of how faunal associations co-vary with long and short term sea level and temperature changes has implications for predicting the long-term effects of “dead zones” in modern oceans

Phase fluorometric method for determination of standard lifetimes

Rayleigh scatterers have long been used as standards for fluorescence lifetime determinations, but they have many drawbacks, including the well-known “color effect ’. To avoid these problems, various fiuorophores have been used as standards. Unfortunately, the lifetimes of these compounds are not agreed upon to better than 5%, and the compounds cited in the literature do not fully cover the 250–850 nm band of common fluorescence emission. We describe a multifrequency phase fluorometric method for accurately determining the lifetimes of monoexponential fluorophores (standards) without reference to another standard. Results are shown for some widely used standard fluorophores and some recently developed compounds. An Independent test of the accuracy of the method based on quenching experiments is presented. © 1988, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved

A silicified Early Triassic marine assemblage from Svalbard

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The origin and significance of pedogenic dolomite from the Upper Permian of the South Urals of Russia

Pedogenic carbonate nodules from six sections spanning the continental Permian–Triassic boundary in the South Urals, Russia, were analysed. Morphological, petrographic, SEM and XRD analyses have demonstrated that many of the latest Permian palaeosols are dolomitic. This dolomite forms the microcrystalline (5–16 μm) groundmass of the nodules. Later diagenetic phases, represented by coarser crystalline textures, were identified as calcite. Isotopic analysis of the microcrystalline dolomite has revealed it to be similar in isotopic composition to authigenic dolomite forming today in saline soils in Alberta, Canada. These data indicate that the dolomite found in these nodules is pedogenic, and formed in equilibrium with the atmosphere. Upper Permian pedogenic dolocretes in the studied sections are most frequent in (a) palaeosols that formed on palaeo-highs and (b) in the latest Permian period (Changhsingian), which may indicate that there was an increase in seasonality and evaporation in the South Urals region at this time. The presence of only calcitic palaeosols in the earliest Triassic may reflect a subsequent dramatic change in the basin conditions, possibly relating to the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, which stopped the conditions that are necessary for dolomite formation