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Nannoplankton
Calcareous nannofossils are a class of tiny (less than 30 microns in diameter) microfossils that are similar to coccoliths deposited by the modern-day coccolithophores. The nannofossils are a convenient source of geochronological data due to the abundance and rapid evolution of the single-cell organisms forming them (nannoplankton) and ease of handling of the sediment samples. The practical applications of calcareous nannofossils in the areas of biostratigraphy and paleoecology became clear once the deepwater drilling took off in 1968 with the Deep Sea Drilling Project, and they have been extensively studied ever since. Nannofossils provide one of the most important paleontological records with the contiguous length of 220 million years. History of research Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, while examining the chalk from Ruegen, recorded in 1836 an observation of what was later termed "coccolith" and had pictured the coccoliths and Discoasters in his ''Mikrogeologie'' (1854), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coccolithophore
Coccolithophores, or coccolithophorids, are single-celled organisms which are part of the phytoplankton, the autotrophic (self-feeding) component of the plankton community. They form a group of about 200 species, and belong either to the kingdom Protista, according to Robert Whittaker (ecologist), Robert Whittaker's five-kingdom system, or clade Hacrobia, according to a newer biological classification system. Within the Hacrobia, the coccolithophores are in the phylum or division (botany), division Haptophyta, class Prymnesiophyceae (or Coccolithophyceae). Coccolithophores are almost exclusively Marine (ocean), marine, are photosynthesis, photosynthetic and mixotrophic, and exist in large numbers throughout the Photic zone, sunlight zone of the ocean. Coccolithophores are the most productive calcifying organisms on the planet, covering themselves with a calcium carbonate shell called a ''coccosphere''. However, the reasons they calcify remain elusive. One key function may be that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coccosphere
Coccolithophores, or coccolithophorids, are single-celled organisms which are part of the phytoplankton, the autotrophic (self-feeding) component of the plankton community. They form a group of about 200 species, and belong either to the kingdom Protista, according to Robert Whittaker's five-kingdom system, or clade Hacrobia, according to a newer biological classification system. Within the Hacrobia, the coccolithophores are in the phylum or division Haptophyta, class Prymnesiophyceae (or Coccolithophyceae). Coccolithophores are almost exclusively marine, are photosynthetic and mixotrophic, and exist in large numbers throughout the sunlight zone of the ocean. Coccolithophores are the most productive calcifying organisms on the planet, covering themselves with a calcium carbonate shell called a '' coccosphere''. However, the reasons they calcify remain elusive. One key function may be that the coccosphere offers protection against microzooplankton predation, which is one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coccolith
Coccoliths are individual plates or scales of calcium carbonate formed by coccolithophores (single-celled phytoplankton such as ''Emiliania huxleyi'') and cover the cell surface arranged in the form of a spherical shell, called a '' coccosphere''. Overview Coccoliths, which are about 2-25 micrometres across, enclose coccolithophores, which are spherical cells about 5-100 micrometres across. Coccolithophores are an important group of about 200 marine phytoplankton species which cover themselves with a calcium carbonate shell called a "coccosphere". They are ecologically and biogeochemically important but the reason why they calcify remains elusive. One key function may be that the coccosphere offers protection against microzooplankton predation, which is one of the main causes of phytoplankton death in the ocean. Material was copied from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License File:Cross section of a coccolithophore with co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microfossils
A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, such as a hand lens, is referred to as a macrofossil. Microfossils are a common feature of the geologic timescale, geological record, from the Precambrian to the Holocene. They are most common in deposits of ocean, marine environments, but also occur in brackish water, fresh water and terrestrial sedimentary deposits. While every Kingdom (biology), kingdom of prehistoric life, life is represented in the microfossil record, the most abundant forms are protist skeletons or microbial cysts from the Chrysophyta, Pyrrhophyta, Sarcodina, acritarchs and chitinozoans, together with pollen and spores from the vascular plants. Overview A microfossil is a descriptive term applied to fossilized plants and animals whose size is just at or below the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discoaster Surculus 01
''Discoaster'' is a genus of extinct star-shaped marine algae, with calcareous exoskeletons of between 5-40 μm across that are abundant as nanofossils in tropical deep-ocean deposits of Neogene age. ''Discoaster'' belongs to the haptophytes. About 100 species can be recognized. Biostratigraphic significance The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) has assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster brouweri'' as the defining biological marker for the start of the Calabrian Stage of the Pleistocene, 1.806 million years ago. ICS has assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster pentaradiatus'' and ''Discoaster surculus'' as the defining biological marker for the start of the Gelasian Stage, 2.588 million years ago, the earliest stage of the Pleistocene. ICS further assigned the extinction of ''Discoaster kugleri'' as biological marker for the start of the Tortonian Stage of the Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Phytoplankton obtain their energy through photosynthesis, as trees and other plants do on land. This means phytoplankton must have light from the sun, so they live in the well-lit surface layers (euphotic zone) of oceans and lakes. In comparison with terrestrial plants, phytoplankton are distributed over a larger surface area, are exposed to less seasonal variation and have markedly faster turnover rates than trees (days versus decades). As a result, phytoplankton respond rapidly on a global scale to climate variations. Phytoplankton form the base of marine and freshwater food webs and are key players in the global carbon cycle. They account for about half of global photosynthetic activity and at least half o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bathybius Haeckelii
''Bathybius haeckelii'' was a substance that British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley discovered and initially believed to be a form of primordial matter, a source of all organic life. He later admitted his mistake when it proved to be just the product of an inorganic chemical process (precipitation). In 1868, Huxley studied an old sample of mud from the Atlantic seafloor taken in 1857. When he first examined it, he had found only protozoan cells and placed the sample into a jar of alcohol to preserve it. Now he noticed that the sample contained an albuminous slime that appeared to be criss-crossed with veins. Huxley thought he had discovered a new organic substance and named it ''Bathybius haeckelii'', in honor of German biologist Ernst Haeckel. Haeckel had theorized about ''Urschleim'' ("primordial slime"), a protoplasm from which all life had originated. Huxley thought ''Bathybius'' could be that protoplasm, a missing link (in modern terms) between inorganic matter and organic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
