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Diversity dynamics of marine planktonic diatoms across the Cenozoic

Nature volume 457, pages 183–186 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Diatoms are the dominant group of phytoplankton in the modern ocean. They account for approximately 40% of oceanic primary productivity and over 50% of organic carbon burial in marine sediments1. Owing to their role as a biological carbon pump2 and effects on atmospheric CO2 levels3,4,5, there is great interest in elucidating factors that influenced the rapid rise in diatom diversity during the past 40 million years6,7. Two biotic controls on diversification have been proposed to explain this diversity increase: (1) geochemical coupling between terrestrial grasslands and marine ecosystems through the global silicon cycle; and (2) competitive displacement of other phytoplankton lineages. However, these hypotheses have not been tested using sampling-standardized fossil data. Here we show that reconstructions of species diversity in marine phytoplankton reject these proposed controls and suggest a new pattern for oceanic diatom diversity across the Cenozoic. Peak species diversity in marine planktonic diatoms occurred at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary and was followed by a pronounced decline, from which diversity has not recovered. Although the roles of abiotic and biotic drivers of diversification remain unclear, major features of oceanic diatom evolution are decoupled from both grassland expansion and competition among phytoplankton groups.

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Figure 1: Traditional and sampling-standardized diatom diversity curves.
Figure 2: Coccolithophorid diversity through time based on sampling-standardized analysis of the Neptune database.
Figure 3: Correlations between de-trended diatom and coccolithophorid diversity between the mid-Eocene and the Pleistocene.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Alroy for comments on our statistical analyses and for suggesting the binomial approximation for confidence limits on diversity; and M. Foote, I. Lovette, A. McCune, A. Agrawal, N. Hairston and the BK Discussion Group for comments on the manuscript. This research was supported in part by NSF-OSIEE-0612855. Part of this work used the resources of the Computational Biology Service Unit from Cornell University, which is partly funded by the Microsoft Corporation.

Author Contributions Both authors contributed to study design and the interpretation of results. D.L.R. conducted the analyses and drafted the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA,

    Daniel L. Rabosky

  2. Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA ,

    Daniel L. Rabosky

  3. Department of Biology and Health Services, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, Pennsylvania 16444, USA,

    Ulf Sorhannus

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  1. Daniel L. Rabosky
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Correspondence to Daniel L. Rabosky.

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Rabosky, D., Sorhannus, U. Diversity dynamics of marine planktonic diatoms across the Cenozoic. Nature 457, 183–186 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07435

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