Decreasing foraminiferal flux in response to ongoing climate change in the Santa Barbara Basin, California

Havard, Emily; Cherry, Katherine; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia; Tappa, Eric; Davis, Catherine V.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4035-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 16

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4035-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4035-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 16

Research article

|

22 Aug 2025

Research article |

| 22 Aug 2025

Decreasing foraminiferal flux in response to ongoing climate change in the Santa Barbara Basin, California

Emily Havard, Katherine Cherry, Claudia Benitez-Nelson, Eric Tappa, and Catherine V. Davis

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4035-2025-supplement

Data sets

Santa Barbara Basin Foraminiferal Flux 2014–2021 Emily Havard et al. https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.936276.1

Meteorological and oceanographic data collected from the National Data Buoy Center Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) and moored (weather) buoys [46053 and 46054] NOAA National Data Buoy Center https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/NDBC-CMANWx

Plumes and Blooms: Curated oceanographic and phytoplankton pigment observations ver 3 Southern California Bight MBON https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/29d4ef7976c19d6958e618d1548dcd72

Plumes and Blooms: phytoplankton pigment concentration ver 3 SCB Marine Biodiversity Observation Network https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/c6bbdf72bee131d00ad1bd24f5f74c87

Download

Article (7843 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

This study explores the impact of modern climate change on single-celled, marine organisms in the Santa Barbara Basin called foraminifera. We collect their shells as they sink to the seafloor and compare our record (2014–2021) to previous studies (1993–1998). We find substantial decreases in total foraminifera and warm-water species. Likely influenced by ocean acidification and regional water circulation, these changes have implications for the marine carbon cycle, ecosystem, and fossil record.