The Palaeo Pad

The ecological information which can be gleaned from the fossil record is controlled by the processes of accumulation involved, according to a paper by the University of Chicago, which is to be published in the May issue of The American Naturalist.

The reproductive cysts of acantharians sink seasonally from surface levels of the ocean to deeper waters, oceanographers at the University of Southampton believe. These oft-overlooked single-celled radiolaria, which have mineral skeletons, are believed to behave this way to exploit an annual increase in food.