Collaborative Research: Foraminiferal Ecological Response to Ocean Conditions in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

有孔虫是微小的，有壳的原生生物，生活在整个海洋中。它们外壳的化学成分随着生长过程中海洋条件的变化而变化。化石有孔虫，这是常见的海底，被用来重建过去的海洋条件和地球的气候历史。新的数据显示，东北太平洋的有孔虫物种组合正在迅速变化，以应对海洋变暖事件，通常被称为海洋热浪。该研究将提高我们在古气候研究中使用温带和高纬度物种的能力。它还将有助于量化现代气候变化如何改变该地区的物种。这项研究将包括在浮游生物网和沉积物捕集器中收集标本。它将对沉积物捕集器部署期间存在的物种进行量化，并将其贝壳的组成与其生长时的海洋条件进行比较。将在实验室中培养少量标本，并将额外的标本用于遗传分析。 该项目将有助于展示现代海洋条件如何影响该地区的物种组合，以及生长条件如何影响其贝壳的组成。该项目将支持俄勒冈州州立大学（OSU）的两名研究生以及OSU和南卡罗来纳州大学的多名本科生。该研究项目的有孔虫壳将在MicroCT扫描仪上成像，以生成3D图像。这些图像将提供给更广泛的社区用于研究和教学目的。 该项目将提高温带和高纬度温带有孔虫在古气候研究中的效用，并量化现代气候变化对东北太平洋有孔虫组合的影响。其主要目标是扩大我们的知识的生态和环境控制的地球化学的温带和高纬度有孔虫物种，量化其响应现代变化的海洋条件（特别是海洋热浪），并限制有孔虫的地球化学特征，因为它们下沉到海底。这将通过大量的实地和实验室工作来实现，其中包括新收集的浮游生物丝束、短期船基培养实验、存档浮游生物丝束样本的组合数据以及部署两个系泊沉积物捕集器。拟议的多管齐下的取样战略将提供了解这一重要的海洋边缘区域有孔虫的地球化学和生态所需的关键样品，增加它们在了解过去海洋学条件方面的效用，并为了解高纬度物种将如何应对未来气候变化奠定基础。高度控制的文化实验将量化微量元素掺入动力学和机制负责壳内微量元素的变化，在温带到极地的物种。这些实验结果将提供重要的信息，可用于解释地球化学的化石有孔虫在温带和高纬度地区，扩大我们的理解，微量元素掺入高纬度和温带有孔虫物种，并提高其在古海洋重建的实用性。将分析沉积物捕集器、浮游生物拖曳物和养殖标本的微量元素和同位素组成。将分析活捕获标本，以确定其基因型和微生物组。本项目中PI未使用的有孔虫和沉积物捕集器样本将存档在OSU海洋地质储存库，供科学界未来研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Foraminifera are tiny, shelled protists that live throughout the ocean. The chemical composition of their shells varies as a function of the ocean conditions during growth. Fossil foraminifera, which are common on the seafloor, are used to reconstruct past ocean conditions and Earth’s climate history. New data show that the mix of foraminifera species present in the Northeast Pacific Ocean is changing rapidly in response to ocean warming events, commonly referred to as marine heat waves. This study will improve our ability to use temperate and high-latitude species in paleoclimate research. It will also help quantify how modern climate change is modifying the species present in this region. The study will include collecting specimens in plankton nets and sediment traps. It will quantify the species present during the sediment trap deployment and will compare the composition of their shells to ocean conditions when they grew. A small number of specimens will be grown in the laboratory and additional specimens will be used for genetic analyses. This project will help show how modern ocean conditions impact the mix of species present in this region and how growth conditions influence the composition of their shells. This project will support two graduate students at Oregon State University (OSU) and multiple undergraduate students at OSU and at the University of South Carolina. Foraminifera shells from this research project will be imaged on a MicroCT scanner to generate 3D images. Those images will then be made available to the broader community for research and teaching purposes. The project will improve the utility of temperate and high-latitude planktic foraminifera in paleoclimate research and quantify the effects of modern climate change on foraminifera assemblages in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The main objectives are to expand our knowledge of the ecology and environmental controls on the geochemistry of temperate and higher-latitude foraminifera species, quantify their response to modern changes in oceanographic conditions (specifically marine heat waves), and constrain foraminiferal geochemical signatures as they sink to the seafloor. This will be achieved through a significant field-based and laboratory effort that includes newly collected plankton tows, short-duration ship-based culture experiments, assemblage data from archived plankton tow samples, and the deployment of two moored sediment traps. The proposed multi-pronged sampling strategy will provide critical samples needed to understand the biogeochemistry and ecology of foraminifera in this important ocean margin region, increase their utility in understanding past oceanographic conditions, and lay the groundwork for understanding how high-latitude species will respond to future climate change. Highly controlled culture experiments will quantify trace element incorporation dynamics and mechanisms responsible for intrashell trace element variability in temperate to polar species. The results of these experiments will offer important information that can be used to interpret the geochemistry of fossil foraminifera in temperate to high-latitude regions, broaden our understanding of the controls on trace element incorporation in high-latitude and temperate foraminifera species, and improve their utility in paleoceanographic reconstructions. Sediment trap, plankton tow, and cultured specimens will be analyzed for their trace element and isotopic composition. Live captured specimens will be analyzed to determine their genotype and microbiome. Foraminifera and sediment trap samples not used by the PIs in this project will be archived at the OSU Marine Geological Repository for future studies by the scientific community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.