The genetic diversity of planktic foraminifera and the global distribution of ribosomal RNA genotypes

By K. Darling, C. Wade. 2008

292 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Fossil planktic foraminifers in the ocean sediments play an unparalleled role in our understanding of the oceanographic environment in the past. An in depth knowledge of their diversity, ecology and biogeography in the modern ocean lies central to the interpretation of the fossil assemblages. In comparison with their benthic counterparts, planktic foraminifera have a very limited diversity of around fifty extant morphospecies. Their morphospecies diversity peaks in the sub-tropics and decreases steeply towards the poles. Traditional species concepts have partitioned morphological types into distinct species (morphospecies) based on test shape, but genetic studies show that individual morphospecies are actually complexes of several discrete genetic types (genotypes). Many of these genotypes have distinct ecologies and novel adaptations that are consistent with species-level classification, indicating that the true diversity of planktic foraminifers has been greatly underestimated. Although planktic foraminifera are clearly capable of long-distance dispersal, they may be constrained by both physical and ecological barriers that vary according to the evolutionary history and ecology of the individual genotypes within a morphospecies. These differences lead to diverse biogeographies. Here, we provide an overview of the genetic and biogeographic data available to date for the planktic foraminifera and present global biogeographies highlighting the distribution of genetic types in the eight planktic foraminiferal morphospecies for which detailed molecular evidence is available.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Ecology, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/133dddfc6acc44c91a0d01b88036225ed3bdeb92

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atmospheric Science

1. F. Jorissen
2. E. Alve
3. G. H. Gudmundsson
4. Susan T. Goldstein
5. J. Murray

In Ecology

1. E. Alve
2. M. Sayer
3. G. Escarguel
4. K. Evans
5. M. Kučera
6. Susan T. Goldstein

In Oceanography

1. E. Alve
2. M. Sayer
3. K. Evans
4. M. Kučera
5. Susan T. Goldstein

Citations in the corpus

• Dispersal, survival and delayed growth of benthic foraminiferal propagules (2010, background): “Due to physical and ecological barriers not even planktic foraminifera, which are capable of longdistance dispersal, are ubiquitously dispersed throughout the domains to which they are adapted (Darling and Wade, 2008).”
• Modelling planktic foraminifer growth and distribution using an ecophysiological multi-species approach (2011, background): “Most of the morphospecies cover several genetically defined species (Darling et al., 2006; Darling and Wade, 2008; Kucera and Darling, 2002) which could have different physiological adaptations.”
• The genetic diversity, phylogeography and morphology of Elphidiidae (Foraminifera) in the Northeast Atlantic (2016, background): “, 2012; Weber and Pawlowski, 2014) and also in a limited number of planktonic groups (Darling and Wade, 2008).”
• The cryptic and the apparent reversed: lack of genetic differentiation within the morphologically diverse plexus of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer (2013, background): “…this assumption has been called into question by extensive genetic surveys, which revealed the existence of multiple distinct and differentially adapted genetic types within individual morphospecies (de Vargas et al. 1999, 2002; Darling and Wade 2008; Morard et al. 2009; Quillévéré et al. 2013).”