Abrupt climate changes off the coast of Southern California caused small decreases in seawater oxygenation that in turn led to extensive seafloor ecosystem reorganization, say researchers.
In addition, recovery from these reorganizations took up to 1,000 years.
The study, which appears early online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to quantitatively examine broad ecosystem responses in the deep-sea sediment record.
Microfossil Record
“We were surprised to learn that this microfossil record is richer and more useful than first expected,” says coauthor James Kennett, professor emeritus of earth and marine science at University of California, Santa Barbara.
“As a result, we were able to test the response time of different members of the bottom-dwelling ecosystem to both abrupt warming and cooling episodes. We were also surprised to discover just how long some took to recover.”
