"Planktonic foraminifera" refers to tiny marine organisms that float in the ocean and have a spiral-shaped shell. They are an important part of the ocean's ecosystem and can provide scientists with valuable information about past climate changes and the health of the ocean.
Full definition
Surface and sub-surface seawater temperature reconstruction using Mg / Ca microanalysis
of planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides sacculifer and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata.
S1; Table S1): alkenone (n = 31),
planktonic foraminifera Mg / Ca 24 (n = 19), TEX86 (n = 4), fossil chironomid transfer function (n = 4), fossil pollenmodern analog 25 technique (MAT)(n = 4), ice - core stable isotopes (n = 5), other microfossil assemblages (MAT and 26 Transfer Function)(n = 5), and Methylation index of Branched Tetraethers (MBT)(n = 1).
He is interested in palaeoclimate proxies, biotic evolution and stratigraphy, with particular emphasis on the fossil record
of planktonic foraminifera from deep sea cores.
In a study published in Science in June, paleoceanographer Bärbel Hönisch and colleagues at Columbia University examined the remnants of
planktonic foraminifera — single - celled creatures with elaborate shells — buried beneath the seafloor off the coast of Africa.
Planktonic foraminifera are typically less than 0.1 mm in diameter.
shallow seismic stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating of
planktonic foraminifera.
«It is also possible that the isotopic composition of
the planktonic foraminifera was influenced by enhanced sea - ice formation and sinking of isotopically - light brines during the early Holocene.
Bemis, et al., discuss this problem on page 152: «Non-equilibrium d18O values in
planktonic foraminifera have never been adequately explained.
We already have evidence for reduced calcification in some corals and in
planktonic foraminifera.