Articles | Volume 17, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2955-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2955-2020
Research article
 | 
09 Jun 2020
Research article |  | 09 Jun 2020

A 15-million-year-long record of phenotypic evolution in the heavily calcified coccolithophore Helicosphaera and its biogeochemical implications

Luka Šupraha and Jorijntje Henderiks

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Helicosphaera spp. coccolith morphometry and nannofossil fluxes at DSDP Site 74-525 and ODP Site 115-707 during the past 15 Ma L. Šupraha and J. Henderiks https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915595

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Short summary
The cell size, degree of calcification and growth rates of coccolithophores impact their role in the carbon cycle and may also influence their adaptation to environmental change. Combining insights from culture experiments and the fossil record, we show that the selection for smaller cells over the past 15 Myr has been a common adaptive trait among different lineages. However, heavily calcified species maintained a more stable biogeochemical output than the ancestral lineage of E. huxleyi.
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