Global record of "ghost" nannofossils reveals plankton resilience to high CO2 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 (CaCO₃) 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.

Decrease in coccolithophore calcification and CO2 since the middle Miocene

Marine algae are instrumental in carbon cycling and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) regulation. One group, coccolithophores, uses carbon to photosynthesize and to calcify, covering their cells with chalk platelets (coccoliths). How ocean acidification influences coccolithophore calcification is strongly debated, and the effects of carbonate chemistry changes in the geological past are poorly understood. This paper relates degree of coccolith calcification to cellular calcification, and presents the first records of size-normalized coccolith thickness spanning the last 14 Myr from tropical oceans. Degree of calcification was highest in the low-pH, high-CO2 Miocene ocean, but decreased significantly between 6 and 4 Myr ago. Based on this and concurrent trends in a new alkenone ɛp record, we propose that decreasing CO2 partly drove the observed trend via reduced cellular bicarbonate allocation to calcification. This trend reversed in the late Pleistocene despite low CO2, suggesting an additional regulator of calcification such as alkalinity.

Response to Comment on “Calcareous Nannoplankton Response to Surface-Water Acidification Around Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a”

Gibbs et al . question our reconstruction of surface- and deepwater acidification around Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a. We answer their criticisms to better substantiate our arguments and original conclusions. Contrary to their suggestion, preservation cannot explain the nannofossil changes we documented, which trace perturbations in the photic zone, including a substantial increase in partial pressure of CO 2 ( p CO 2 ) and an inferred decreased pH as derived from geochemical proxies.