How will Benthic Foraminifera Respond to Warming and Changes in Productivity?: A Laboratory Culture Study on Cymbaloporetta plana

Anthropogenic activities are likely to cause global warming. Global warming will affect marine productivityand thus food availability for marine organisms. Both the seawater temperature and food availability affect benthicforaminifera, the most abundant marine calcareous microorganisms. Therefore, a laboratory culture experiment wasconducted on Cymbaloporetta plana to understand the coupled effect of temperature(25°C, 27°C, 30°C) and food(102±5,203±9, 305±14, 407±18, 508±23 diatom cells). At all temperatures, growth increased with increase in food. The specimenssubjected to 27°C temperature attained the maximum growth and those subjected to 25°C were the smallest. All specimensfed with 508±23 cells reproduced, 0 irrespective of temperature. Of all the specimens without food, 40% at 27°C and 20% at25°C reproduced, whereas specimens subjected to 30°C did not reproduce. The 100% rate of reproduction at 27°C suggeststhat it is the optimum temperature for growth and reproduction. All the specimens at 30°C and without additional food,died, whereas at 25°C and 27°C, the mortality rate was 80% and 60%, respectively. The limited growth and reproductionwith decreasing food clearly indicates that food availability also controls the growth and reproduction of shallow waterbenthic foraminifer C. plana. Therefore, warming coupled with decreasing productivity is likely to severely affect thegrowth and abundance of shallow water benthic foraminifera.