Pleistocene epilithic foraminifera from the Arctic Ocean

Anna Waśkowska; Michael A Kaminski

doi:10.7717/peerj.7207

Pleistocene epilithic foraminifera from the Arctic Ocean

PeerJ. 2019 Jun 21:7:e7207. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7207. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Anna Waśkowska¹, Michael A Kaminski²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Geology, Geophysics, and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland.
² Geosciences Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Attached epilithic foraminifera constitute an important but overlooked component of the benthic foraminiferal assemblage in the Pleistocene sediment of the central Arctic Ocean. We report 12 types of epilithic foraminifera that have colonised lithic and biogenic grains found in glacial sediments, including representatives of the genera Rhizammina, Hemisphaerammina, Ammopemphix, Diffusilina, Subreophax, Placopsilina, Placopsilinella, Hormosinelloides and Tholosina, accompanied by mat-like and ribbon-like forms of uncertain taxonomic affinity. The attached agglutinated forms appear to be colonisers, adapted to extremely oligotrophic conditions.

Keywords: Agglutinated Foraminifera; Arctic; Biodiversity; Foraminifera; Paleontology; Pleistocene; Sclerobionts; Taxonomy.

Grants and funding

The authors received support from the College of Petroleum and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals through their start-up grant program (grant no. 19012). Anna Waskowska received support from AGH grant No 11.11.140.005. Michael A. Kaminski received support from the College of Science, KFUPM, to enable participation on the ALEX (PS87) Expedition. Logistical support was provided by the Micropaleontological Foundation MicroPress Europe. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.