Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Seasonality on Benthic Foraminifers as Paleoenvironmental Proxies.

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This project studies seasonal variation in the abundance and shell composition of foraminifera from the northern Gerlache-southern Bransfield Straits region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Its goal is to improve interpretation of microfaunal and geochemical proxies for reconstruction of ancient ocean currents, climate, and ecologies. Since seasonal variation may greatly affect interpretation, this project focuses on the Antarctic region, where intense seasonality should generate a more obvious signal than at the less extreme mid-latitudes. The results should allow a better understanding of the coupling to seasonal productivity, as well as improve regional reconstructions.The broader impacts are graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral student education; as well as outreach to both the English and Spanish-speaking public. The work will also improve society's understanding of past climate change as an analogue to the future.