Environmental and biological controls on size-specific 13C and 18O in recent planktonic foraminifera

As living organisms, planktonic foraminifera are not passive tracers of the environment. Their test geochemistry—arguably the single most important resource for paleoceanographic research—reflects the combined signal of environmental, biological, and preservational processes. For most species, comparisons of test stable isotopic composition within and among taxa provide the primary means for disentangling the relative influences of these different processes. Here we test the foundations of our paleoceanographic interpretations with the first quantitative comparison of the determinants of carbon and oxygen isotopic variation across multiple ocean basins, studies, and species by re-analyzing size-specific data collated from the literature. We find clear evidence of species-specific biological effects (i.e., vital effects), as the intercepts of size-specific carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions differ significantly among species. Trends in body size and isotopic composition, particularly in dinoflagellate bearing taxa, suggest that much of the size-dependent isotopic variation observed in death assemblages (i.e., core tops and sediments) relates to factors influencing the maximum size obtained by adults rather than ontogeny. The presence and type of photosymbiont hosted (dinoflagellate, chrysophyte, or none) were a major factor affecting speciesand size-specific δO values. In contrast, size-related trends in δC values were driven by depth habitat (mixed layer, thermocline, subthermocline), symbiont ecology and whether the assemblage was alive or dead when sampled. On this broad geographic and oceanographic scale, ocean basin and biome had a significant effect on δO and δC values . Our analysis and its model-averaged predictions provide a quantitative basis for interpreting size-specific isotopic variation in 22 species of modern macroperforate planktonic foraminifera. We conclude by highlighting existing data gaps and outstanding questions of the relative influence of environmental, preservational, and biological processes on variation in the test geochemistry of planktonic foraminifera.