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Invasion of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea by a Large Benthic Foraminifer in the Little Ice Age
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Invasion of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea by a Large Benthic Foraminifer in the Little Ice Age
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Journal Article
Invasion of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea by a Large Benthic Foraminifer in the Little Ice Age
2025
Overview
The larger benthic foraminifera is a group of marine protists harbouring symbiotic algae, that are geographically confined to shallow tropical and subtropical waters, often associated with coral reefs. The resulting controls on availability of habitat and rates of dispersion make these foraminifers, particularly the genus Amphistegina, useful proxies in the study of invasive marine biota, transported through hull fouling and ballast water contamination in modern commercial shipping. However, there is limited information on the importance of these dispersal mechanisms for foraminifers in the Pre-Industrial Era (pre-1850) for the Atlantic and Caribbean region. This paper examines possible constraints and vectors controlling the invasion of warm-water taxa from the Indo-Pacific region to the Atlantic and Caribbean region. Heterostegina depressa, first described from St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, provides a test case. The paper postulates that invasions through natural range expansion or ocean currents were unlikely along the possible available routes and hypothesises that anthropogenic vectors, particularly sailing ships, were the most likely means of transport. It concludes that the invasion of the Atlantic by H. depressa was accomplished within the Little Ice Age (1350–1850 C.E.), during the period between the start of Portuguese marine trade with east Africa in 1497 and the first description of H. depressa in 1826. This hypothesis is likely applicable to other foraminifers and other biota currently resident in the Atlantic and Caribbean region. The model presented provides well-defined parameters that can be tested using methods such as isotopic dating of foraminiferal assemblages in cores and genetic indices of similarity of geographic populations.
