Coccolithophores

Patrizia Ziveri studies coccolithophores, such as the ones whose images appear on the home page of this website. The photo was taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope by Saskia Kars.

Coccolithophores are one-celled phytoplankton, some of the microscopic plants in the ocean. These phytoplankton are different from all other phytoplankton because they surround themselves with coccoliths. Coccoliths are “plates” or “hubcaps” made out of calcium carbonate, or limestone. Each coccolith remains in the ocean after the plant has died. Collolithophores have been present in the world’s ocean since the Mesozoic, about 220 million years ago. So, they give us a continuous fossil record. By studying the fossils, scientists are able to record and reconstruct a picture of past climates on Earth.

Coccolithophores are the only marine organisms that provide indicators of past climatic and oceanographic conditions in two ways. Scientists look at the information from both the organic (molecular fossils or biomarkers) and inorganic (calcium carbonate) remains in sediments. The research in the Gulf of California is a good opportunity for Patrizia and her students (Bianca De Bernardi and Mascha Dedert) to work with scientists interested in the biomarkers produced by these algae, and to compare their ecology and carbonate chemistry.

• Research questions
• Research methods
• Introduction to atoms and isotopes 

This special report was made possible by NSF Marine Geology and Geophysics Award Nos. OCE-0326573 to Fredrick Prahl (Oregon State University)and OCE-0324299 to Brian N. Popp (University of Hawaii) for study of "Alkenone Production and Productivity in Contrasting Surface Water Environments in the North Pacific Ocean."