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Science 4 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5710, p. 689
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105407
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Brevia

Simple Foraminifera Flourish at the Ocean's Deepest Point

Yuko Todo,1 Hiroshi Kitazato,2* Jun Hashimoto,3 Andrew J. Gooday4*

Small organisms (meiofauna) inhabiting sediments in the deepest (>10,000 m) ocean trenches are almost unknown. Through a quantitative study of live foraminifera from an extreme trench environment (10,900 m water depth), we demonstrate that these protists are an abundant meiofaunal component. Foraminifera are organisms of central importance in geology and biology. There is currently great interest in primitive noncalcareous taxa with simple, single-chambered shells. The Challenger Deep assemblages are dominated by these phylogenetically important forms. Molecular evidence suggests that similar taxa are modern representatives of the basal foraminiferal evolutionary radiation that probably occurred in the Precambrian (Neoproterozoic).

1 Department of Life and Earth Sciences, School of Science, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan, and U. Dom Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.
2 Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine Earth, Science and Technology, Natsushimacho 2-15, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.
3 Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
4 DEEPSEAS Benthic Biology Group, Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, European Way, Southampton SO143 ZH, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kitazatoh{at}jamstec.go.jp (H.K.) and ang{at}soton.soc.ac.jp (A.J.G.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Modern deep-sea benthic foraminifera: a brief review of their morphology-based biodiversity and trophic diversity.
A. J. Gooday, H. Nomaki, and H. Kitazato (2008)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 303, 97-119
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
DISTRIBUTION AND BIODIVERSITY OF STAINED MONOTHALAMOUS FORAMINIFERA FROM TEMPELFJORD, SVALBARD.
A. Sabbatini, C. Morigi, A. Negri, and A. J. Gooday (2007)
Journal of Foraminiferal Research 37, 93-106
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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