Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C510508/1
Exploiting a novel technique to extract biological and ecological information from fossil calcareous nannoplankton.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor P Bown, University College London, Earth Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr JR Young, University College London, Earth Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University College London, Earth Sciences
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Palaeobiology
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Sediment/Sedimentary Processes
- Palaeoenvironments
- Systematics & Taxonomy
- Abstract:
- Calcareous nannoplankton are minute (2-l5 micrometers), single-celled algae that surround their delicate cell walls with a covering of calcium carbonate plates, called coccoliths. They live in the sunlit, upper layers of the oceans, and photosynthesize, like plants on land, forming an important source of food for larger marine animals. Although very small, they are important on a global scale because they occur in huge numbers, using CO2 as they photosynthesise, and burying the carbon in their calcite plates, as sea-floor sediments, that through time become rocks. We can study them as fossils because their coccoliths are a major component of marine rocks, although up until now, we have not been able to study the different types precisely because we have been unable to separate the very small particles. However, a new method of very precise sieving, developed by Fabrice Minoletti (Minoletti et al. 2001), has for the first time shown that such precise separations can be achieved. Although it is an extremely time-consuming method, it will give us the opportunity to examine a number of different aspects of nannoplankton fossils. Firstly, we can produce concentrations of just one species, and then analyse the chemistry of their calcite plates. This will tell us ~whether shell chemistry differs from species to species. The carbon and oxygen isotopes, and strontium/calcium ratios, of these plates carry with them information about the water temperature and depth at which the coccoliths were grown, and also how much food was present in the water, and how fast the cells were growing. This type of information is extremely useful, because it tells us about how the oceans have changed through time, and how they responded to different climates. We will also be able to concentrate and study the smallest coccoliths, which have often been overlooked because they are difficult to see using standard techniques and microscopes. This is especially important because living nannoplankton include many species that are very small (less than 3 thousandths of a millimetre) and we will be able to test whether these small forms are present as fossils, and therefore whether the fossil record preserves a representative number of coccoliths, and therefore a good record of their evolution through time. Finally, the separate parts of the sediment can be measured accurately, providing a record of which organisms produced carbonate through time, and how much. This will tell us about the way biogeochemical cycles have changed through time, and the way these influence and respond to environmental change, such as warming climates.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C510508/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £273,479
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £155,769 | £4,065 | £17,993 | £24,000 | £71,654 |
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