Scientists have discovered the cause of a mass extinction of sea-floor marine organisms 800,000 years ago — which also provides insight into how climate change can impact deep ocean biota.
In a new study in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from the universities of Nottingham and Durham and the British Geological Survey (BGS), have discovered the cause of a mass extinction within marine organisms called foraminifera. Foraminifera are an important group in relation to biomass in the deep ocean and the cause of their extinction was unknown. Scientists tested various possible for the mass extinction and were able to discount others such as ocean cooling. , they discovered that the extinction was caused by a global change in plankton at the surface of the ocean.
