Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P020178/1
Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr S Stukins, The Natural History Museum, Earth Sciences
- Grant held at:
- The Natural History Museum, Earth Sciences
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Climate & Climate Change
- Isotopic record
- Population Ecology
- Evolutionary processes
- Extinction
- Systematics & Taxonomy
- Sediment/Sedimentary Processes
- Ocean drilling
- Abstract:
- We propose a focused short course providing postgraduate students and early-career researchers with specialist in-depth skills that are valuable in a wide range of contexts in both research and industry. Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera, especially the macroperforate clade, have the most complete and well-understood fossil record of any group. They are a vital group for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, as the fossils' geochemistry provides a range of proxies for sea temperatures and pH through geological history. Extinction and evolutionary events (bioevents) in planktonic foraminifera are extensively employed in regional and global biostratigraphy and correlations. Thus, planktonic foraminiferal bioevents are an extremely powerful and well established tool to date marine sediments and are a fundamental component of Cenozoic chronostratigraphy. Lastly, the unparalleled fossil record makes them a model system for macroevolution, providing unique insights into how clades diversify and how diversity is controlled. No other course provides such in-depth training into this vital group during this period of time. Course participants will therefore take vital knowledge with them and apply them to diverse, multi-disciplinary research topics relating to ocean science, climate modelling and palaeontology with a far better control of taxonomy, dating techniques and isotopic climate proxies. The course will include Recent, Neogene and Paleogene material and will cover both low and high-latitude assemblages. Focusing on identifying key species from throughout the Cenozoic, it will introduce not only the group's taxonomy and classification but also its ecology, phylogeny and key role in biostratigraphy. By the end of the course, attendees will: - Understand the basic morphological types of planktonic foraminifera, how morphology develops during ontogeny, and the terms used to describe it - Be familiar with the morphology and up-to-date classification of the Recent diversity of the macroperforate clade and selected larger microperforate taxa - Appreciate the differences between low and high-latitude assemblages - Appreciate the adaptations shown to different environments - Understand the range of species concepts used in the study of the group - Understand how morphometric approaches can be used to delimit species - Be able to distinguish excellent 'glassy' preservation from recrystallized material, and appreciate the importance of the difference for palaeotemperature estimates - Understand and be able to apply the basic principles of biostratigraphy - Be competent identifying the key zone fossils for the Neogene and selected zone fossils for the Paleogene, allowing the age of a sediment sample to be inferred The course is particularly timely, as a globally coordinated revision of the group's taxonomy is underway. Prof Pearson and Prof Wade were both central to the Atlas of Eocene Planktonic Foraminifera (published in 2006); both are likewise key to the Atlas of Oligocene Planktonic Foraminifera currently in preparation, and are members of the Paleogene Planktonic Foraminiferal Working Group (part of the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy). Each day will feature sessions of intense microscope work (working backwards from the Recent), mixed in with informal presentations on important conceptual and technical topics; key literature will also be highlighted. Taxonomic work will focus on zone fossils but within the context of the evolving broader assemblage. Participants will also be shown the NHM's key reference collections (Blow and Buckley collections) and the Heron-Allen micropalaeontology library. They will be led from sample preparation to curation of type specimen material, processing sediment samples in the NHM Micropalaeontology Lab and then being guided through the best practices of specimen repository, storage and databasing. They will also prepare short presentations on additional relevant topics.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P020178/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £32,519
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £32,519 |
If you need further help, please read the user guide.