Nature Communications (Jan 2016)

Decrease in coccolithophore calcification and CO2 since the middle Miocene

  • Clara T. Bolton,
  • María T. Hernández-Sánchez,
  • Miguel-Ángel Fuertes,
  • Saúl González-Lemos,
  • Lorena Abrevaya,
  • Ana Mendez-Vicente,
  • José-Abel Flores,
  • Ian Probert,
  • Liviu Giosan,
  • Joel Johnson,
  • Heather M. Stoll

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10284
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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The impact of future and past carbonate chemistry changes on calcifying plankton is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that coccolithophore degree of calcification decreased significantly between 6 and 4 million years ago, in line with declining aqueous CO2concentrations.