Growth estimation of the larger foraminifer Heterostegina depressa by means of population dynamics

Autor(en)
Wolfgang Eder, Julia Wöger, Shunichi Kinoshita, Johann Hohenegger, Antonino Briguglio
Abstrakt

In Heterostegina depressa, the flagship species of laboratory investigations of larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) since the 70’s, the timing of reproduction, longevity and natural chamber building rates are still understudied. A recently developed method, the natural laboratory (sensu Hohenegger), has been applied on H. depressa populations from Sesoko Jima, NW Okinawa, Japan. An averaged chamber building rate and longevity of H. depressa were calculated based on 17 monthly samplings at fixed stations. All samples were collected at 20 and 50 m water depths using SCUBA. Live populations were dried and investigated by microCT. The monthly frequency distributions of chamber numbers and test diameters have been decomposed in normally distributed components. For each month, mean and standard deviations of the components were used to calculate the maximum chamber number and maximum test diameter. Based on these values, the natural chamber building rate (CBR) or diameter increase rate (DIR) could be estimated using the Michaelis-Menten function. CBR and DIR were inverted to estimate the ‘birthdate’ of all investigated individuals. Based on frequencies of these ‘birthdates’, main reproduction events could be detected and compared to the reproduction timing of other subtropical and tropical LBF taxa. Furthermore, peaks in reproduction could be linked to monsoon wet seasons (=“rainy seasons”) and winter rains.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Paläontologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Università degli Studi di Genova
Journal
PeerJ
Band
6
Anzahl der Seiten
34
ISSN
2167-8359
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6096
Publikationsdatum
01-2019
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105118 Paläontologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Allgemeine Agrar- und Biowissenschaften, Allgemeine Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie, Allgemeine Neurowissenschaft
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/d4e6164d-91b3-42f8-896d-806cfd05ca9c