Holocene and contemporary marine dinoflagellate community patterns predict expansion of generalist dinoflagellate blooms in warming oceans.

ABSTRACT: Existing data and models suggest increasing prominence of dinoflagellates and their blooms in future warmer ocean but supporting long-term data are sparse. Here, we used 18S rRNA gene sequencing to investigate sedimentary ancient dinoflagellate communities in northern South China Sea and compared them with contemporary dinoflagellate data from global oceans (TARA Oceans data) and 40 years of dinoflagellate bloom records in China. We found a continuous warming (by ~4.3°C in mean annual sea surface temperature) from 12 to 4.3 kiloyears before present (kyr BP), which caused an initial increase in the relative abundance and diversity of dinoflagellates, followed by a decrease reaching the lowest value, probably due to thermal stress. However, dinoflagellates flourished again after 4.3 kyr BP,

SUBMITTER: Liu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12133096 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature