Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4196
Title: Process length variation in cysts of a dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium machaerophorum, in surface sediments: Investigating its potential as salinity proxy
Authors: Mertens, KN
Leroy, SAG
Ribeiro, S
Bouimetarhan, I
Caner, H
Nebout, NC
Dale, B
Keywords: Lingulodinium machaerophorum;Processes;Lingulodinium polyedrum;Biometry;Palaeosalinity;Dinoflagellate cysts
Issue Date: 2009
Publisher: Elsevier
Citation: Marine Micropaleontology. 70 (1-2) 54-69
Abstract: A biometrical analysis of the dinoflagellate cyst Lingulodinium machaerophorum (Deflandre and Cookson 1955) Wall, 1967 in 144 globally distributed surface sediment samples revealed that the average process length is related to summer salinity and temperature at a water depth of 30 m by the equation (salinity/temperature) = (0.078*average process length + 0.534) with R² = 0.69. This relationship can be used to reconstruct palaeosalinities, albeit with caution. The particular ecological window can be associated with known distributions of the corresponding motile stage Lingulodinium polyedrum (Stein) Dodge, 1989. Confocal laser microscopy showed that the average process length is positively related to the average distance between process bases (R²=0.78), and negatively related to the number of processes (R²=0.65). These results document the existence of two end members in cyst formation: one with many short, densely distributed processes and one with a few, long, widely spaced processes, which can be respectively related to low and high salinity/temperature ratios. Obstruction during formation of the cysts causes anomalous distributions of the processes. From a biological perspective, processes function to facilitate sinking of the cysts through clustering.
Description: “Many authors have contributed to writing this paper. Those listed in the metadata are: the main/contact author, the first listed author and Brunel University author(s). For a full list of the authors, please see the PDF version.”
URI: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4196
Appears in Collections:Environment
Institute for the Environment



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