PROCESSES AND METHODOLOGY FOR FORAMINIFERA ANALYSIS

Benthic foraminifera are amongst the most numerous microorganisms of the deep-sea, are globally distributed, and have an impressive geologic record. Their tests are some of the most commonly used geochemical proxies in paleoceanography. However, very little is known about the lifespan, mobility, and reasons for test construction. Much of the morphological information is lost through destructive analyses. Moreover, each individual foraminifera must be used for only one type of analysis, severely limiting our ability to connect relationships between things like morphology to internal organelle orientation, etc. Through a new combined preparation technique, we intend to be able to use a single individual foraminifera for more than one analytical technique commonly used in paleoceanographic techniques The current methods for achieving this is by dissolving a portion of the test in a acid called EDTA by submerging half of the shell into the solution. Through this new methodology, we will attempt to preserve the foraminiferal cell while imaging the shell with MicroCT analysis, then extract and separate the shell and cell, which are then used in geochemical and ultrastructural analyses, respectively. We hope that this method becomes widely used in foraminiferal research truely allowing the field to make the most of each individual collected in modern analogue studies.