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Life History and Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Planktonic Foraminifera

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Howard J. Spero
Howard J. Spero*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Application of planktonic foraminifera to micropaleontological, paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic research has enjoyed more than 150 years of activity. During the first century, foraminifera were used primarily for biostratigraphic analysis. Although fossil shells were recognized from beach sands and deep sea sediments as early as 1826 (d'Orbigny, 1826; Parker and Jones, 1865), it wasn't until Owen (1867) and the scientific results of the Challenger expedition (Brady, 1884) that the planktonic life habitat of these marine protozoans was clearly established. By the early 20th century, researchers were studying the biology of planktonic foraminifera at the cellular level (Rhumbler, 1901; Le Calvez, 1936), and linking their distributional patterns to regions of the ocean surface (Lohmann, 1920; Schott, 1935).

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Research Article
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The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 4: Isotope Paleobiology and Paleoecology , October 1998 , pp. 7 - 36
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Copyright © 1998 by The Paleontological Society 

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