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Does temperature affect dimorphic reproduction in benthic foraminifera? A culture experiment on Rosalina leei

IR@NIO: CSIR-National Institute Of Oceanography, Goa


Field	Value

Creator	Nigam, R. Caron, D.A.

Date	2006-08-26T11:03:56Z 2006-08-26T11:03:56Z 2000

Identifier	Current Science, vol. 79(8), 1105-1106pp. http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/263

Description	The possible effects of environmental factors on the dimorphic mode of reproduction in benthic foraminifera have been reported in the literature. Published observations based on field samples have indicated an inverse relationship between the ratio of microspheric/megalospheric forms and temperature or salinity. These findings imply their potential use in palaeoclimatic studies. Two experiments were conducted on the benthic foraminifera Rosalina leei (Hedley and Wakefield) collected from Vineyard Sound near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. In the first experiment, a large number of specimens were maintained at four different temperatures (5, 15, 20 and 25 degrees C) and observations were made on the frequency of pairing (an indication of sexual activity). The percentage of pairs formed was directly related to the temperature, i.e. 0 pairs at 5 degrees C to 19.3% pairs at 25 degrees C. In the second experiment, paired and unpaired specimens were maintained separately at three different temperatures (15, 20 and 25 degrees C). Nearly one-half of the unpaired specimens reproduced at all three temperatures, while none of the paired specimens reproduced. Type and frequency of feeding were common in all the experiments. It is surmised that dimorphic reproduction in R. leei requires a different environment

Format	23326 bytes application/pdf

Language	en

Publisher	Indian Academy of Sciences

Subject	Benthic foraminifera palaeoclimatic studies

Title	Does temperature affect dimorphic reproduction in benthic foraminifera? A culture experiment on Rosalina leei

Type	Article