Published December 31, 2004 | Version v1
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Calcareous Nannoplankton, a Tool to Assign Environmental Changes

Authors/Creators

  • 1. National Institute of Marine Geology and Geoecology (GEOECOMAR), 23-25 Dimitrie Onciul str., 024053 Bucharest, Romania melinte@geoecomar.ro

Description

Main taxonomical and biostratigraphical features of the calcareous nannoplankton, algae widespread in all the marine environments are discussed. The biostratigraphy and the distribution of this group of organisms for the last 225 Ma are also presented. The calcareous nannoplankton, as most of the planktonic organisms, reflects with high fidelity environmental changes, such as fluctuations of light, salinity, temperature, sea-level changes, ocean productivity, nutrients and water pollution. The key role of the calcareous nannoplankton in reconstructing palaeoecological changes, in identifying global and regional environmental modifications and in advancing climatic predictions is argued.

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