• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Combined carbonate carbon isotopic and cellular ultrastructural studies of individual benthic foraminifera : method description

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    2009PA001846.pdf (471.4Kb)
    Date
    2010-06-11
    Author
    Martin, Jonathan B.  Concept link
    Bernhard, Joan M.  Concept link
    Curtis, Jason H.  Concept link
    Rathburn, Anthony E.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3898
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1029/2009PA001846
    DOI
    10.1029/2009PA001846
    Keyword
     Foraminifera; Ultrastructure; Carbon isotopes 
    Abstract
    Carbon isotopes of foraminiferal tests provide a widely used proxy for past oceanographic environmental conditions. This proxy can be calibrated using live specimens, which are reliably identified with observations of cell ultrastructure. Observations of ultrastructures can also be used for studies of biological characteristics such as diet and presence of symbionts. Combining biological and isotopic studies on individual foraminifera could provide novel information, but standard isotopic methods destroy ultrastructures by desiccating specimens and observations of ultrastructure require removal of carbonate tests, preventing isotope measurements. The approach described here preserves cellular ultrastructure during isotopic analyses by keeping the foraminifera in an aqueous buffer (Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS)). The technique was developed and standardized with 36 aliquots of NBS-19 standard of similar weight to foraminiferal tests (5 to 123 μg). Standard errors ranged from ± 0.06 to ± 0.85‰ and were caused by CO2 contaminants dissolved in the PBS. The technique was used to measure δ13C values of 96 foraminifera, 10 of which do not precipitate carbonate tests. Calcareous foraminiferal tests had corrected carbon isotope ratios of −8.5 to +3.2‰. This new technique allows comparisons of isotopic compositions of tests made by foraminifera known to be alive at the time of collection with their biological characteristics such as prey composition and presence or absence of putative symbionts. The approach may be applied to additional biomineralizing organisms such as planktonic foraminifera, pteropods, corals, and coccolithophores to elucidate certain biological controls on their paleoceanographic proxy signatures.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 25 (2010): PA2211, doi:10.1029/2009PA001846.
    Collections
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    Suggested Citation
    Paleoceanography 25 (2010): PA2211
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Combined carbonate carbon isotopic and cellular ultrastructural studies of individual benthic foraminifera : 2. Toward an understanding of apparent disequilibrium in hydrocarbon seeps 

      Bernhard, Joan M.; Martin, Jonathan B.; Rathburn, Anthony E. (American Geophysical Union, 2010-10-22)
      Numerous previous studies show disequilibrium between stable carbon isotope ratios of foraminiferal calcite and pore water dissolved inorganic carbon in hydrocarbon seeps, calling into question the utility of this widely ...
    • Thumbnail

      Calibration of the carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of benthic foraminifera 

      Schmittner, Andreas; Bostock, Helen; Cartapanis, olivier; Curry, William B.; Filipsson, Helena L.; Galbraith, Eric D.; Gottschalk, Julia; Herguera, Juan Carlos; Hoogakker, Babette; Jaccard, Samuel L.; Lisiecki, Lorraine E.; Lund, David C.; Martínez Méndez, Gema; Lynch-Stieglitz, Jean; Mackensen, Andreas; Michel, Elisabeth; Mix, Alan C.; Oppo, Delia W.; Peterson, Carlye D.; Repschläger, Janne; Sikes, Elisabeth L.; Spero, Howard J.; Waelbroeck, Claire (John Wiley & Sons, 2017-06-03)
      The carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of seawater provides valuable insight on ocean circulation, air-sea exchange, the biological pump, and the global carbon cycle and is reflected by the δ13C of foraminifera tests. Here ...
    • Thumbnail

      Effects of lead pollution on Ammonia parkinsoniana (foraminifera) : ultrastructural and microanalytical approaches 

      Frontalini, Fabrizio; Curzi, Davide; Giordano, Francesco M.; Bernhard, Joan M.; Falcieri, E.; Coccioni, Rodolfo (PAGEPress, 2015-01-30)
      The responses of Ammonia parkinsoniana (Foraminifera) exposed to different concentrations of lead (Pb) were evaluated at the cytological level. Foraminifera-bearing sediments were placed in mesocosms that were housed in ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo