Appendix 1: List of cladistic characters published on ammonites

The file here provided, is the list of all characters that have been used in cladistic analysis on ammonoids published so far. It constitutes the base of a study which investigates practices in characters establishment. Find here after the abstract of the article that is associated to this file. Cladistics appears as one of the most useful method to reconstruct phylogeny of fossil taxa. However, ammonoids workers tend to sulk this method. The capital step of cladistic analysis is the recognition of homology hypothesis as clue to reconstruct monophyletic clades based on the sharing of derived traits. Previous authors have suggested that coding schemes are usually direct transcription of original taxa description. However, establishing a list of characters (i.e. a matrix taxa /characters) is a very different work compared to a compilation of diagnoses. How morphology is coded in ammonoids? How coding schemes are influenced by traditional descriptions / characters? Here, we review all cladistic analyses of ammonoids published in the literature to compare characters and the way authors have dealt with the treatment of continuous characters, polymorphism and ontogeny. Several barriers are usually invoked to justify that cladistics cannot be applied to reconstruct ammonoids phylogenies. We show that an appropriate use of improvements both on ammonoids' knowledge and cladistics methodology may overcome limitations usually invoked to perform cladistic analysis on ammonoids.

An approach for particle sinking velocity measurements in the 3-400 µm size range and considerations on the effect of temperature on sinking rates

The flux of organic particles below the mixed layer is one major pathway of carbon from the surface into the deep ocean. The magnitude of this export flux depends on two major processes-remineralization rates and sinking velocities. Here, we present an efficient method to measure sinking velocities of particles in the size range from approximately 3-400 µm by means of video microscopy (FlowCAM®). The method allows rapid measurement and automated analysis of mixed samples and was tested with polystyrene beads, different phytoplankton species, and sediment trap material. Sinking velocities of polystyrene beads were close to theoretical values calculated from Stokes' Law. Sinking velocities of the investigated phytoplankton species were in reasonable agreement with published literature values and sinking velocities of material collected in sediment trap increased with particle size. Temperature had a strong effect on sinking velocities due to its influence on seawater viscosity and density. An increase in 9 °C led to a measured increase in sinking velocities of 40 %. According to this temperature effect, an average temperature increase in 2 °C as projected for the sea surface by the end of this century could increase sinking velocities by about 6 % which might have feedbacks on carbon export into the deep ocean.

Experiment: Marine fungi may benefit from ocean acidification

Recent studies have discussed the consequences of ocean acidification for bacterial processes and diversity. However, the decomposition of complex substrates in marine environments, a key part of the flow of energy in ecosystems, is largely mediated by marine fungi. Although marine fungi have frequently been reported to prefer low pH levels, this group has been neglected in ocean acidification research. We present the first investigation of direct pH effects on marine fungal abundance and community structure. In microcosm experiments repeated in 2 consecutive years, we incubated natural North Sea water for 4 wk at in situ seawater pH (8.10 and 8.26), pH 7.82 and pH 7.67. Fungal abundance was determined by colony forming unit (cfu) counts, and fungal community structure was investigated by the culture-independent fingerprint method Fungal Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (F-ARISA). Furthermore, pH at the study site was determined over a yearly cycle. Fungal cfu were on average 9 times higher at pH 7.82 and 34 times higher at pH 7.67 compared to in situ seawater pH, and we observed fungal community shifts predominantly at pH 7.67. Currently, surface seawater pH at Helgoland Roads remains >8.0 throughout the year; thus we cannot exclude that fungal responses may differ in regions regularly experiencing lower pH values. However, our results suggest that under realistic levels of ocean acidification, marine fungi will reach greater importance in marine biogeochemical cycles. The rise of this group of organisms will affect a variety of biotic interactions in the sea.

(Table1) Frequency of well defined bioturbation in sediments of the Eckernförder Bay, Western Baltic Sea

The lamination and burrowing patterns in 17 box cores were analyzed with the aid of X-ray photographs and thin sections. A standardized method of log plotting made statistical analysis of the data possible. Several 'structure types' were established, although it was realized that the boundaries are purely arbitrary divisions in what can sometimes be a continuous sequence. In the transition zone between marginal sand facies and fine-grained basin facies, muddy sediment is found which contains particularly well differentiated, alternating laminae. This zone is also characterized by layers rich in plant remains. The alternation of laminae shows a high degree of statistical scattering. Even though a small degree of cyclic periodicity could be defined, it was impossible to correlate individual layers from core to core across the bay. However, through a statistical handling of the plots, zones could be separated on the basis of the number of sand layers they contained. These more or minder sandy zones clarified the bottom reflections seen in the records of the echograph from the area. The manner of facies change across the bay, suggests that no strong bottom currents are effective in the Eckernförde Bay. The marked asymmetry between the north and south flanks of the profile can be attributed to the stronger action of waves on the more exposed areas. Grain size analyses were made from the more homogeneous units found in a core from the transition-facies zone. The results indicate that the most pronounced differences between layers appear in the silt range, and although the differences are slight, they are statistically significant. Layers rich in plant remains were wet-sieved in order to separate the plant detritus. This was than analyzed in a sediment settling balance and found to be hydrodynamically equivalent to a well-sorted, finegrained sand. A special, rhythmic cross-bedding type with dimensions in the millimeter range, has been named 'Crypto-cross-lamination' and is thought to represent rapid sedimentation in an area where only very weak bottom currents are present. It is found only in the deepest part of the basin. Relatively large sand grains, scattered within layers of clayey-silty matrix, seem to be transported by flotation. Thin section examination showed that the inner part of Eckernförder Bay carbonate grains (e. g. Foraminifera shells) were preserved throughout the cores, while in the outer part of the bay they were not present. Well defined tracks and burrows are relatively rare in all of the facies in comparision to the generally strongly developed deformation burrowing. The application of special measures for the deformation burrowing allowed to plot their intensity in profile for each core. A degree of regularity could be found in these burrowing intensity plots, with higher values appearing in the sandy facies, but with no clear differences between sand and silt layers in the transition facies. Small sections in the profiles of the deepest part of the bay show no bioturbation at all.

Chemistry of hot waters sampled from basaltic basement at DSDP Hole 83-504B

Seawater that has been altered by reaction with basaltic basement has been sampled from Deep Sea Drilling Project Hole 504B, located on 5.9-m.y.-old crust on the southern flank of the Costa Rica Rift. Fourteen water samples have been collected on Legs 69, 70, and 83, both before and after renewed drilling on the latter two legs, at temperatures from 69 to 133°C and pressures from 390 to 425 bars. The water sampled prior to renewed drilling on Leg 83 had occupied the hole for nearly 2 yr. since it was last flushed with surface seawater at the end of Leg 70. Despite some contamination by seawater during sampling, the composition of two of these waters has been determined by using nitrate as a tag for the contaminant. Both the 80 and 115°C waters have seawater chlorinity, but have lost considerable Mg, Na, K, sulfate, and 02, and have gained Ca, alkalinity, Si, NH3 and H2S. The loss of sulfate is due to anhydrite precipitation, as indicated by the d34S value of the remaining dissolved sulfate. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio has been lowered to 0.7086 for the 80°C water and 0.7078 for the 115°C water, whereas the Sr concentration is nearly unchanged. The changes in major element composition relative to seawater are also larger for the 115°C water, indicating that the basement formation water at this site probably varies in composition with depth. Based on their direction relative to seawater, the compositional changes for the 80 and 115°C waters do not complement the changes inferred for the altered rocks from Hole 504B, suggesting that the bulk composition of the altered rocks, like their mineralogy, is largely unrelated to the present thermal and alteration regime in the hole. The exact nature of the reacted seawaters cannot be determined yet, however. During its 2 yr. residence in the hole, the surface seawater remaining at the end of Leg 70 would have reacted with the wall rocks and exchanged with their interstitial formation waters by diffusion and possibly convection. How far these processes have proceeded is not yet certain, although calculations suggest that diffusion alone could have largely exchanged the surface seawater for interstitial water. The d18O of the samples is indistinguishable from seawater, however, and the d14C of the 80°C sample is similar to that of ocean bottom water. Although the interpretation of these species is ambiguous, that of tritium should not be. Tritium analyses, which are in progress, should clarify the nature of the reacted seawaters obtained from the hole.

Chemistry of pore water and solids, formation factors and salt-corrected porosities of DSDP Site 68-503

Recent discoveries relating to the circulation of fluids within the oceanic crust include the finding of both important fluxes of elements and isotopes into the oceans by ridge-crest hydrothermal convection and important fluxes of heat out of the oceanic crust by convection at ridge crests and at some distance from ridge crests. In the present chapter, I present isotopic, chemical, and physical data from sediments and pore waters of Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Holes 503A and 503B. These results are modeled in terms of pore-water diffusion, advection, and production to ascertain the relative contribution of these processes at this location, 7.5 m.y. removed from ridge-crest hydrothermal activity. The observations made here contribute to the understanding of chemical and heat transport in oceanic crust of moderate age.