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- Birch, Heather, et al.
(författare)
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Ecosystem function after the K/Pg extinction : decoupling of marine carbon pump and diversity
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 288:1953
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ocean biological pump is the mechanism by which carbon and nutrients are transported to depth. As such, the biological pump is critical in the partitioning of carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere, and the rate at which that carbon can be sequestered through burial in marine sediments. How the structure and function of planktic ecosystems in the ocean govern the strength and efficiency of the biological pump and its resilience to disruption are poorly understood. The aftermath of the impact at the Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary provides an ideal opportunity to address these questions as both the biological pump and marine plankton size and diversity were fundamentally disrupted. The excellent fossil record of planktic foraminifera as indicators of pelagic-biotic recovery combined with carbon isotope records tracing biological pump behaviour, show that the recovery of ecological traits (diversity, size and photosymbiosis) occurred much later (approx. 4.3 Ma) than biological pump recovery (approx. 1.8 Ma). We interpret this decoupling of diversity and the biological pump as an indication that ecosystem function had sufficiently recovered to drive an effective biological pump, at least regionally in the South Atlantic.
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- Birch, Heather, et al.
(författare)
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Planktonic foraminifera stable isotopes and water column structure : Disentangling ecological signals
- 2013
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Ingår i: Marine Micropaleontology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0377-8398 .- 1872-6186. ; 101, s. 127-145
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Differential carbon and oxygen stable isotope (delta C-13 and delta O-18) fractionation between planktonic foraminifera test calcite and sea water related to ecology and life stage confound the potential for reconstructing palaeo-water column temperature and carbon gradients. Multi-species analysis and strict selection of test sizes are useful methods for identifying these fractionation processes, also known as 'vital effects', in fossil taxa. However, there are a limited number of species with adequate size-controlled data sets, needed for ground truthing the approach in the modern. Here we report delta C-13 and delta O-18 measurements made on twelve species of modern planktonic foraminifera across a range of fourteen tightly constrained size windows from a tropical Indian Ocean core top sample. This data set includes more test size windows per species, especially from the smallest (identifiable) test size-classes, and a wider range of species than previously attempted. We use the size controlled delta O-18 calcite trajectories to infer depth habitats and calculate species-specific calcification temperatures. The temperatures are then used to constrain species-specific calcification depths along the modern vertical temperature profile in the western tropical Indian Ocean. By overlaying the per species delta C-13 calcite trajectories on local water column delta C-13(DIC) profiles, we estimate if and when (i.e. at which test sizes) the planktonic foraminifera species investigated approach ambient delta C-13(DIC) values. The profiling shows significant size-controlled delta C-13 deviation from seawater values in all species at some life/growth stage, which we attribute to (i) metabolic fractionation in tests <150-300 mu m (juveniles of all species and small adults), and; (ii) photosymbiont fractionation, affecting large tests (>similar to 300 mu m) of mixed layer photosymbiotic taxa. For most species there is a size-window where these effects appear to be at a minimum, and/or in balance. Exceptions are Globigerinita glutinata, a small (<200 mu m) surface living species, Globigerina bulloides, which is highly opportunistic, and deep living Globorotalia tumida and Globorotaloides hexagonus, the latter two species being affected by various unexplained delta C-13 vital effects. Use of our refined guidelines for test-size selection should improve the potential for making realistic reconstructions of water column delta C-13(DIC) in a modern tropical stratified setting and potentially in the distant geological past when there are no living analogues present.
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| 6. |
- Birch, Heather, et al.
(författare)
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Return to the light: Evolution of photosymbiosis after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction
- 2009
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Ingår i: 6.. ; , s. 16-
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction seriously affected the marine pelagic ecosystem causing >90% loss of planktonic foraminifera species. Surface to deep-ocean foraminiferal d13C gradients and carbonate accumulation show that the extinctions coincided with a crash in organic matter flux to the sea floor that disrupted carbon cycling and took 3Myr to recover. Establishing the evolutionary and ecological response of the plankton through this recovery is important for understanding the role of the pelagic ecosystem in marine carbon cycling. Here we present new multispecies foraminiferal stable isotope data and planktic shell size distributions from a new, well-dated and continuous Atlantic deep sea core. The data document the evolution and diversification of photosymbiosis (thought to be an adaptation to low nutrient pelagic environments) in Paleocene planktonic species 3 million years after the K/Pg extinction when the pelagic carbon system recovered to a pre-K/Pg state and Oligotropic conditions returned. The data show that the geochemical signature of photosymbiosis evolved in an initially thermocline dwelling species, Preamurica pseudoinconstans, that started migrating to the shallower photic levels during later life stages. Initially appearing less than 1 myr after the K/ Pg extinction, symbiosis as an ecological strategy did not become important for a further 2 million years when the genus Morozevlla underwent major diversification, probably in response to an expanding ecologic opportunity that in turn resulted from final recovery of the marine carbon cycle.
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- Birch, Heather S., et al.
(författare)
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Partial collapse of the marine carbon pump after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geology. - 0091-7613 .- 1943-2682. ; 44:4, s. 287-290
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impact of an asteroid at the end of the Cretaceous caused mass extinctions in the oceans. A rapid collapse in surface to deep-ocean carbon isotope gradients suggests that transfer of organic matter to the deep sea via the biological pump was severely perturbed. However, this view has been challenged by the survival of deep-sea benthic organisms dependent on surface-derived food and uncertainties regarding isotopic fractionation in planktic foraminifera used as tracers. Here we present new stable carbon (delta C-13) and oxygen (delta O-18) isotope data measured on carefully selected planktic and benthic foraminifera from an orbitally dated deep-sea sequence in the southeast Atlantic. Our approach uniquely combines delta O-18 evidence for habitat depth of foraminiferal tracer species with species-specific delta C-13 eco-adjustments, and compares isotopic patterns with corresponding benthic assemblage data. Our results show that changes in ocean circulation and foraminiferal vital effects contribute to but cannot explain all of the observed collapse in surface to deep-ocean foraminiferal delta C-13 gradient. We conclude that the biological pump was weakened as a consequence of marine extinctions, but less severely and for a shorter duration (maximum of 1.77 m.y.) than has previously been suggested.
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| 8. |
- Fresard, Laure, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of rare-disease genes using blood transcriptome sequencing and large control cohorts
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Medicine. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 1078-8956 .- 1546-170X. ; 25:6, s. 911-919
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is estimated that 350 million individuals worldwide suffer from rare diseases, which are predominantly caused by mutation in a single gene(1). The current molecular diagnostic rate is estimated at 50%, with whole-exome sequencing (WES) among the most successful approaches(2-5). For patients in whom WES is uninformative, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has shown diagnostic utility in specific tissues and diseases(6-8). This includes muscle biopsies from patients with undiagnosed rare muscle disorders(6,9), and cultured fibroblasts from patients with mitochondrial disorders(7). However, for many individuals, biopsies are not performed for clinical care, and tissues are difficult to access. We sought to assess the utility of RNA-seq from blood as a diagnostic tool for rare diseases of different pathophysiologies. We generated whole-blood RNA-seq from 94 individuals with undiagnosed rare diseases spanning 16 diverse disease categories. We developed a robust approach to compare data from these individuals with large sets of RNA-seq data for controls (n = 1,594 unrelated controls and n = 49 family members) and demonstrated the impacts of expression, splicing, gene and variant filtering strategies on disease gene identification. Across our cohort, we observed that RNA-seq yields a 7.5% diagnostic rate, and an additional 16.7% with improved candidate gene resolution.
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- Jimenez Berrocoso, Alvaro, et al.
(författare)
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The Lindi Formation (upper Albian-Coniacian) and Tanzania Drilling Project Sites 36-40 (Lower Cretaceous to Paleogene) : Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of African earth sciences. - : Elsevier BV. - 1464-343X. ; 101, s. 282-308
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The 2009 Tanzania Drilling Project (TDP) expedition to southeastern Tanzania cored a total of 572.3 m of sediments at six new mid-Cretaceous to mid-Paleocene boreholes (TDP Sites 36, 37, 38, 39, 40A, 40B). Added to the sites drilled in 2007 and 2008, the new boreholes confirm the common excellent preservation of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils from core samples that will be used for biostratigraphy, evolutionary studies, paleoceanography and climatic reconstructions from the Tanzanian margin, with implications elsewhere. The new sites verify the presence of a relatively expanded Upper Cretaceous succession in the region that has allowed a new stratigraphic unit, named here as the Lindi Formation (Fm), to be formally defined. The Lindi Fm (upper Albian to Coniacian), extending similar to 120 km between Kilwa and Lindi, comprises a 335-m-thick, outer-shelf to upper-slope unit, consisting of dark gray claystone and siltstone interbeds, common finely-laminated intervals, minor cm-thick sandstones and up to 2.6% organic carbon in the Turonian. A subsurface, composite stratotype section is proposed for the Lindi Fm, with a gradational top boundary with the overlying Nangurukuru Fm (Santonian to Maastrichtian) and a sharp bottom contact with underlying upper Albian sandstones. The section cored at TDP Sites 36 and 38 belongs to the Lindi Fm and are of lower to middle Turonian age (planktonic foraminifera Whiteinella archaeocretacea to Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica Zones and nannofossils subzones UC6b +/- UC7). The lower portion of TDP Site 39 (uppermost part of the Lindi Fm) is assigned to the lower to upper Coniacian (planktonic foraminifera Dicarinella concavata Zone and nannofossils zone UC 10), while the remaining part of this site is attributed to the Coniacian-Santonian transition and younger Santonian (planktonic foraminifera D. asymetrica Zone and upper part of nannofossils zone UC10). TDP Site 37 recovered relatively expanded (150 m thick), monotonous calcareous claystones from the lower to upper Maastrichtian (planktonic foraminifera Pseudoguembelina palpebra to Abathomphalus mayaroensis Zones and nannofossils zones UC19 to UC20a(TP)) that were separated by a hiatus and/or a faulted contact from overlying brecciated carbonates of the Selandian (middle Paleocene: PF Zone P3 and nannofossil zone NP5). The lower portion of TDP Sites 40A and 40B recovered sandstones and conglomerates barren of microfossils. Their overlying parts were assigned to incomplete sections of the nannofossil zones NC6A to NC8 (uppermost Barremian to lower Albian). Benthic foraminiferal assemblages allowed the Barremian to lower Aptian to be identified in TDP Sites 40A and 40B, while the upper Aptian to middle Albian (Hedbergella trocoidea to Ticinella primula Zones) were assigned using planktonic foraminifera. Cores recovered at TDP 39 (Coniacian-Santonian) and at TDP Sites 40A and 40B (Barremian-middle Albian) represent the first time that these two intervals have been continuously cored and publicly documented in Tanzania. Bulk sediment isotope records generated for the new sites show lower delta O-18(carb) values in the Turonian and Santonian (similar to-3.5 parts per thousand to -5 parts per thousand) than in the Maastrichtian (similar to-3 parts per thousand), a situation consistent with extreme global warmth in the older intervals and cooling toward the end of the Cretaceous. Also, similar to Turonian sites from previous TDP expeditions, a negative delta C-13(org) excursion was detected across the W. archaeocretacea-H. helvetica boundary of TDP Site 36 (close to, but above, the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary). This excursion probably responded to local processes in the region, but it is unknown whether they were related to the recovery phase from Ocean Anoxic Event 2.
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