Plankton which help feed the ocean, lock away carbon dioxide and even influence the weather may not be as vulnerable to climate change as feared.
Despite their fossils having been dissolved away by acidic sediment waters, new research has found that the organisms themselves were thriving during the Jurassic, providing hope that they can still act as a carbon sink in modern global warming.
Though measuring smaller than the width of a human hair, the 'ghost' fossils of Jurassic plankton can help us understand how their modern relatives will respond to an increasingly acidic ocean.
Coccolithophores are a group of phytoplankton which form microscopic scales made of calcite, a type of calcium carbonate, in a case around themselves. With rising carbon dioxide levels making seawater more acidic, there were concerns coccolithophores may be left unable to form their exoskeleton.
This was supported by evidence from past warming events, where plankton body fossils are scarce in the record.
However, a group of researchers has now shown that the plankton were not only surviving at the time, but thriving. The scientists found the lack of body fossils was a result of them being dissolved after death, leaving imprints in sediment where the remains used to be.
Prof Richard Twitchett, a Research Leader at the Museum and co-author of the paper, says, 'The "ghost" fossils show that nannoplankton were abundant, diverse and thriving during past warming events in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, where previous records have assumed that plankton collapsed due to ocean acidification.
'These fossils are rewriting our understanding of how the calcareous nannoplankton respond to warming events.'
The findings of the study, conducted by an international group of researchers, were published in the journal Science.
'Ghost' fossils reveal how oceans could be affected by climate change
Despite their fossils having been dissolved away by acidic sediment waters, new research has found that the organisms themselves were thriving during the Jurassic, providing hope that they can still act as a carbon sink in modern global warming.
Though measuring smaller than the width of a human hair, the 'ghost' fossils of Jurassic plankton can help us understand how their modern relatives will respond to an increasingly acidic ocean.
Coccolithophores are a group of phytoplankton which form microscopic scales made of calcite, a type of calcium carbonate, in a case around themselves. With rising carbon dioxide levels making seawater more acidic, there were concerns coccolithophores may be left unable to form their exoskeleton.
This was supported by evidence from past warming events, where plankton body fossils are scarce in the record.
However, a group of researchers has now shown that the plankton were not only surviving at the time, but thriving. The scientists found the lack of body fossils was a result of them being dissolved after death, leaving imprints in sediment where the remains used to be.
Prof Richard Twitchett, a Research Leader at the Museum and co-author of the paper, says, 'The "ghost" fossils show that nannoplankton were abundant, diverse and thriving during past warming events in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, where previous records have assumed that plankton collapsed due to ocean acidification.
'These fossils are rewriting our understanding of how the calcareous nannoplankton respond to warming events.'
The findings of the study, conducted by an international group of researchers, were published in the journal Science.
'Ghost' fossils reveal how oceans could be affected by climate change