Paleoecology and evolutionary response of planktonic foraminifera to the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and Plio-Pleistocene bipolar ice sheet expansion

Abstract ∼  5 kyr) sedimentary records from the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean, complemented with global records from the novel Triton dataset, we document the biotic changes in this microfossil group, within which three species displayed isochronous co-extinction, and species with cold-water affinity increased in dominance as meridional temperature gradients steepened. We suggest that these changes were associated with the terminal stages of the closure of the Central American Seaway, where following the sustained warmth of the mid-Pliocene Warm Period, bipolar ice sheet expansion initiated a world in which cold- and deep-dwelling species became increasingly more successful. Such global-scale paleoecological and macroevolutionary variations between the Pliocene and the modern icehouse climate would suggest significant deviations from pre-industrial baselines within modern and future marine plankton communities as anthropogenic climate forcing continues.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Paleoecology and evolutionary response of planktonic foraminifera to the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and Plio-Pleistocene bipolar ice sheet expansion ; volume:20 ; number:1 ; year:2023 ; pages:121-139 ; extent:19 ; Biogeosciences ; 20, Heft 1 (2023), 121-139 (gesamt 19)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Woodhouse, Adam ; Procter, Frances A. ; Jackson, Sophie L. ; Jamieson, Robert A. ; Newton, Robert J. ; Sexton, Philip F. ; Aze, Tracy

Further information

• DOI: 10.5194/bg-20-121-2023
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023011204241952409163
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:32 AM CEST