Renewal of planktonic foraminifera diversity after the Cretaceous Paleogene mass extinction by benthic colonizers

Abstract

The biotic crisis following the end-Cretaceous asteroid impact resulted in a dramatic renewal of pelagic biodiversity. Considering the severe and immediate effect of the asteroid impact on the pelagic environment, it is remarkable that some of the most affected pelagic groups, like the planktonic foraminifera, survived at all. Here we queried a surface ocean metabarcoding dataset to show that calcareous benthic foraminifera of the clade Globothalamea are able to disperse actively in the plankton, and we show using molecular clock phylogeny that the modern planktonic clades originated from different benthic ancestors that colonized the plankton after the end-Cretaceous crisis. We conclude that the diversity of planktonic foraminifera has been the result of a constant leakage of benthic foraminifera diversity into the plankton, continuously refueling the planktonic niche, and challenge the classical interpretation of the fossil record that suggests that Mesozoic planktonic foraminifera gave rise to the modern communities.

Abstract

Planktonic foraminifera are key to understanding paleoclimate and plankton evolution, but their origins are unclear. Here, the authors use a molecular clock to suggest that benthic foraminifera dispersed in plankton and renew planktonic foraminifera diversity after the Cretaceous Paleogene mass extinction.