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Foraminifera

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3D prints, fake grass and video, 400 X 80 X 400 cm

Inspired by the single celled marine creatures, classified as Foraminifera. The online website ‘World Foraminifera Database’ describes foraminifera as:
 

‘Foraminifera are essentially marine and estuarine-dwelling protozoans living in all environments from the greatest depths right up to highest astronomical tide level and from the equator to the poles.’ (https://www.marinespecies.org/foraminifera/index.php)


These marine creatures are single celled organisms that usually produce a shell, many of them are extremely small, less than 0.5mm. Despite there diminu)ve size they are infinitely abundant, forming a thick blanket over one third of the earths surface. The organisms’ shells (called test’s) offer a taxonomy of abundant forms and structures both fascina)ng and enlightening to our understanding of growth and form.
 

When foraminifera die, they also leave the trace of their existence in most sedimentary rocks as fossils. They are referenced by the naturalist, biologist and mathema)cian Darcy Wentworth Thompson, published in his important 1917 book ‘On Growth and Form’.

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Climate change is affecting the water temperature of our waterways and diminishing oxygen levels. This is affecting the biodiversity of these tiny creatures in alarming ways. However, some of them are also adapting survival strategies through their biochemistry and food chain interactions.

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Climate change is affecting the temperature of our waterways and diminishing the oxygen levels. This is affecting the biodiversity of these tiny creatures in alarming ways. However, some of them are also adapting survival strategies through their biochemistry and food chain interactions.

The 3D prints presented in the installation Foraminifera were sculpted in a virtual environment using a 3D headset. This video shows the sculptures as viewed in the virtual space.

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Benthic foraminifera and gromiids from oxygen-depleted environments – survival strategies, biogeochemistry and trophic interactions

By Nicolaas Glock

 

The oceans are losing oxygen (O2), and oxygen minimum zones are expanding due to climate warming (lower O2 solubility) and eutrophication related to agriculture. This trend is challenging for most marine taxa that are not well adapted to O2 depletion. For other taxa this trend might be advantageous because they can withstand low O2 concentrations or thrive under O2-depleted or even anoxic conditions. Benthic foraminifera are a group of protists that include taxa with adaptations to partly extreme environmental conditions. Several species possess adaptations to O2 depletion that are rare amongst eukaryotes, and these species might benefit from ongoing ocean deoxygenation. In addition, since some foraminifera can calcify even under anoxic conditions, they are important archives for paleoceanographic reconstruction in O2-depleted environments.


Glock, N.: Benthic foraminifera and gromiids from oxygen-depleted environments – survival strategies, biogeochemistry and trophic interactions, Biogeosciences, 20, 3423–3447, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3423-2023, 2023.

Published in Biogeosciences international scientific journal: 17 Aug 2023

 

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