Summary
Processes of current and past global change have been successfully identified and modeled by treating the earth as a physical or chemical system. Quantitative characterization of global change in the biota lags far behind. Units of measurement include biomass, productivity, abundance, diversity and species longevity. The response time to forcings of the physical and chemical systems range from seasons to a few thousand years. Response times of quantifiable aspects of the biosphere, however, may range from the ecological time-scale of days up to the evolutionary time-scale of millions of years.
The models used by ecologists and evolutionists focus both on characterizing the type and extent of abiotic and biotic processes acting on living and on evolving populations of organisms. The spacial and temporal scales to be considered in studies of ecological and evolutionary controls, however, are vastly different.
Investigations of the seasonal dynamics of coccolithophores document their strong correlation with changes of the physical-chemical environment (bottom-up control). A few detailed stratigraphic studies indicate that physical forcing also operated on evolutionary time-scales. Although commonly observed in living communities and laboratory experiments, the quantification of the influence of biotic forcing (top-down) by organism-organism interactions (grazing, predation, competition, infection) in ecology and particularly in paleontology, remains elusive. Difficulties in reconciling plankton diversity and longevity with commonly accepted ecological and evolutionary theory underscores the need for better understanding basic behaviors of the biosphere.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvarez LW, Alvarez W, Asaro F, Michel HV (1980) Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction. Science 208: 1095–1180
Barthlott W, Biedinger N, Braun G, Feig F, Kier G, Mutke J (1999) Terminological and methodological aspects of the mapping and analysis of global biodiversity. Acta botanica fennica 162: 103–110
Berger WH (1976) Biogenous deep sea sediments: production, preservation and interpretation. In: Riley JP, Chester R (eds) Chemical Oceanography Vol. 5. Academic Press, London, pp 265–388
Berggren WA, Kent DV, Aubry MP, Hardenbol J (eds) (1995) Geochronology, time-scales and global stratigraphic correlation. SEPM Spec Pub 54: 129–212
Bollmann J, Baumann KH, Thierstein HR (1998) Global dominance of Gephyrocapsa coccoliths in the late Pleistocene: Selective dissolution, evolution, or global environmental change? Paleoceanography 13: 517–529
Boltovskoy D (1999) Radiolaria Polycystina. In: Boltovskoy D (ed) South Atlantic Zooplankton. Vol. I, Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, pp 149–212
Bown PR, Burnett JA, Gallagher LT (1992) Calcareous nannoplankton evolution. Mem Scienze Geologiche Spec Vol 43: 1–17
Bralower TJ, Monechi S, Thierstein HR (1989) Calcareous nannofossil zonation of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval and correlation with the geomagnetic polarity time-scale. Mar Micropaleontol 14: 153–235
Broecker WS, Peng TH (1982) Tracers in the Sea. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.
Broerse ATC, Ziveri P, Hinte JE Van, Honjo S (2000) Coccolithophore export production, species composition, and coccolith-CaCO3 fluxes in the NE Atlantic (34°N 21°W and 48°N 21°W). Deep-Sea Res II 47: 1877–1905
Busson G, Noel D (1991) Les calcaires fins pélagiques des temps liasiques sont primordialement faits d’une espèce du nannophytoplancton calcaire: la schizosphère S. punctulata. C R Acad Sci Paris 313/11: 795–800
Buzas MA, Culver SJ (1984) Species duration and evolution – benthic foraminifera on the Atlantic continental margin of North-America. Science 225: 829–830
CLIMAP Project Members (1976) The surface of the ice-age Earth. Science 191: 1131–1137
Committee for the Global Atmospheric Research Program (1975) Understanding climatic change, a program for action. National Research Council, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Cortés MY (1998) Coccolithophores at the time series station ALOHA, Hawaii: population dynamics and ecology. PhD dissertation, University of Zürich.
Cortés MY, Bollmann J, Thierstein H (2001) Coccolithophore ecology at the HOT station ALOHA Hawaii. Deep-Sea Res II 48: 1957–1981
Courtillot V (1994) Mass extinctions in the last 300 million years: one impact and seven flood basalts? Isr J Earth Sci 43: 255–266
Crouch EM, Heilmann-Clausen C, Brinkhuis H, Morgans HEG, Rogers KM, Egger H, Schmitz B (2001) Global dinoflagellate event associated with the late Paleocene thermal maximum. Geology 29: 315–318
Culver SJ, Rawson PF (eds) (2000) Biotic response to global change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K.
Daskalov G (2002) Overfishing drives a trophic cascade in the Black Sea. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 225: 53–63
Delmas RJ, Ascencio JM, Legrand M (1980) Polar ice evidence that atmospheric CO2 20’000 years BP was 50% of present. Nature 284: 155–157
Erba E (1994) Nannofossils and superplumes: The early Aptian “nannoconid crisis”. Paleoceanography 9: 483–501
Falkowski P, Scholes RJ., Boyle E, Canadell J, Canfield D, Elser J, Gruber N, Hibbard K, Högberg P, Linder S, Mackenzie FT, Moore III B, Pedersen T, Rosenthal Y, Scitzinger S, Smetacek V, Steffen W (2000) The global carbon cycle: a test of our knowledge of Earth as a system. Science 290: 291–296
Fischer AG, Arthur MA (1977) Secular variations in the pelagic realm. SEPM Spec Pub 25: 19–50
Fischer G, Wefer G (1999) Use of proxies in paleoceanography. Springer Verlag, Berlin
Gallois RW (1976) Coccolith blooms in the Kimmeridge Clay and origin of North Sea Oil. Nature 259: 473–475
Garrison RE, Fischer AG (1969) Deep-water limestones and radiolarites in the alpine Jurassic. SEPM Spec Pub 14: 20–55
Gartner S (1977) Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and revised zonation of the Pleistocene. Mar Micropaleontol 2: 1–25
Haidar AT, Thierstein HR (2001) Coccolithophore dynamics off Bermuda (N. Atlantic). Deep-Sea Res II 48: 1925–1956
Hemleben C, Spindler M, Anderson RO (1989) Modern Planktonic Foraminifera. Springer-Verlag, New York
Heywood VH, Watson RT (1995) Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge Univ Press
Hildebrand AR, Penfield GT, Kring DA, Pilington M, Camargo ZA, Jacobsen SB, Boynton WV (1991) Chicxulub crater: a possible Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Geology 19: 867–871
Holligan PM, Fenández E, Aiken J, Balch WM, Boyd P, Berkill PH, Finch M, Groom SB, Malin G, Muller K, Purdie DA, Robinson C, Trees CC, Turner SM, Van der Wal P (1993) A biogeochemical study of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi in the North Atlantic. Global Biogeochem Cy 7: 879–900
Hutchinson GE (1961) The paradox of the plankton. Am Nat 45: 137–145
Imbrie J, Kipp NG (1971) A new micropaleontological method for quantitative paleoclimatology: application to a late Pleistocene Caribbean core. In: Turekian KK (ed) The late Cenozoic ice ages. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, pp 71–181
Jordan RW, Kleijne A (1994) A classification system for living coccolithophores. In: Winter A, Siesser WG (eds) Coccolithophores. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, pp 83–105
Knappertsbusch M (1993) Geographic distribution of living and Holocene coccolithophores in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Micropaleontol 21: 219–247
Koblents-Mishke OH, Vokovinsky VV, Kabanova YG (1970) Plankton primary production of the world ocean. In: Wooster WS (ed) Scientific Exploration of the South Pacific. Nat. Acad. Sciences, Washington D.C., pp 183–193
Koeberl C, MacLeod KG (eds) (2002) Catastrophic events and mass extinctions: impacts and beyond. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 356
Leckie RM, Bralower TJ, Cashman R (2002) Oceanic anoxic events and plankton evolution: Biotic response to tectonic forcing during the mid-Cretaceous. Paleoceanography 17/3, 10.1029/2001PA000623,2002
Li, WKW (2002) Macroecological patterns of phytoplankton in the northwestern North Atlantic Ocean. Nature 419: 154–157
Lieth H (1973) Primary production: terrestrial ecosystems. Hum Ecol 1: 303–332
Lipps JH (1970) Plankton evolution. Evolution 24: 1–22
Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Croom Helm, London
Margalef R (1978) Life-forms of phytoplankton as survival alternatives in an unstable environment. Oceanol Acta 1: 493–509
May R, Lawton JH, Stork NE (1995) Assessing extinction rates. In: Lawton JH, May RM (eds) Extinction Rates. Oxford Univ Press, pp 1–24
McGowan JA, Walker PW (1993) Pelagic diversity patterns. In: Ricklefs RE, Schluter D (eds) Species diversity in ecological communities. Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 203–214
Montanari A, Koeberl C (2000) Impact stratigraphy: the Italian record. Springer Verlag, Berlin
Niklaus PA, Leadley PW, Schmid B, Körner C (2001) A long-term field study × biodiversity and elevated CO2 interactions in grassland. Ecol Monogr 71: 341–356
Norris RD (2000) Pelagic species diversity, biogeography, and evolution. Paleobiology Supp Vol 26/4: 236–258
Okada H, Honjo S (1973) The distribution of oceanic coccolithophorids in the Pacific. Deep-Sea Res 20: 355–374
Pálfi J, Demény A, Haas J, Hetényi M, Orchard MJ, Veto I (2001) Carbon isotope anomaly and other geochemical changes at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary from a marine section in Hungary. Geology 29: 1047–1050
Rankama K, Sahama TG (1950) Geochemistry. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago
Röhl U, Bralower TJ, Norris RD, Wefer G (2000) New chronology for the late Paleocene thermal maximum and its environmental implications. Geology 28: 927–930
Rutherford S, D’Hondt S, Prell W (1999) Environmental controls on the geographic distribution of Zooplankton diversity. Nature 400: 749–753
Ruddiman, WF (2001) Earth’s climate: past and future. WH Freeman, New York
Sarmiento JL, Gruber N (2002) Sinks for anthropogenic carbon. Phys Today 55/8: 30–36
Schippers P, Verschoor AM, Vos M, Mooij WM (2001) Does “supersaturated coexistence” resolve the “paradox of the plankton”? Ecol Lett 4: 404–407
Schott W (1935) Die Foraminiferen aus dem aequatorialen Teil des Atlantischen Ozeans. Deutsch Atl Exped. Meteor 1925–1927, 3: 34–134
Schrader HJ, Schuette G (1981) Marine Diatoms. In: Emiliani C (ed) The Sea, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 7: 1179–1232
Siesser WG, Bralower TJ, De Carlo EH (1992) Mid-Tertiary Braarudosphaera-rich sediments on the Exmouth Plateau. Proc ODP Scientific Results, 122: 653–663
Sommer U (1993) Phytoplankton competition in Plusssee: A field test of the resource-ratio hypothesis. Limnol. Oceanogr. 38: 838–845
Spencer-Cervato C (1999) The Cenozoic deep sea microfossil record: explorations of the DSDP/ODP sample set using the Neptune database. Paleontologica Electronica 2/2
Stenseth NC, Maynard Smith J (1984) Coevolution in ecosystems: Red Queen evolution or stasis? Evolution 38: 870–880
Takahashi K (1991) Radiolaria: Flux, ecology, and taxonomy in the Pacific and Atlantic. In: Honjo S (ed) Ocean Biocoenosis. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Press, No. 3
Tappan H, Loeblich AR (1972) Fluctuating Rates of Protistan Evolution, Diversification and Extinction. 24th IGC, Section 7: 205–213
Thierstein HR (1979) Paleoceanographic implications of organic carbon and carbonate distribution in Mesozoic deep-sea sediments. Maurice Ewing Series, Am Geophys Union (Washington DC) 3: 249–274
Thierstein HR (1981) Late Cretaceous nannoplankton and the change at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. SEPM Spec Pub 32: 355–394
Thierstein HR, Geitzenauer K, Molfino B, Shackleton NJ (1977) Global synchroneity of late Quaternary coccolith datum levels: Validation by oxygen isotopes. Geology 5: 400–404
Van Valen L (1973) A new evolutionary law. Evol Theor 1: 1–30
Venrick EL (1999) Phytoplankton species structure in the central North Pacific, 1973–1996: variability and persistence. J Plankton Res 21: 1029–1042
Verity PG, Smetacek V (1996) Organism life cycles, predation, and the structure of marine pelagic ecosystems. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 130: 277–293
Watson RT, Rhode H, Oeschger H, Siegenthaler U (1990) Greenhouse gases and aerosols. In: Houghton JT, Jenkins GJ, Ephraums JJ (eds) Climate Change: the IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Wei KY, Kennett JP (1983) Nonconstant extinction rates of Neogene planktonic foraminifera. Nature 305: 218–220
Wilson, EO (1992) The diversity of life. Harvard University Press, MA
Worm B, Lotze HK, Hildebrand H, Sommer U (2002) Consumer versus resource control of species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Nature 417: 848–851
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thierstein, H.R., Cortés, M.Y., Haidar, A.T. (2004). Plankton community behavior on ecological and evolutionary time-scales: when models confront evidence. In: Thierstein, H.R., Young, J.R. (eds) Coccolithophores. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06278-4_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06278-4_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-06016-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-06278-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive