Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2013, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6): 101-107.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2013.06.015cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2013.06.015

• Marine biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Vertical distribution of living radiolarians and its environmental implication

ZHANG Lan-lan1, CHEN Mu-hong1, HU Wei-fen1, 2, ZHANG Qiang1, 2, XIANG Rong1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; 
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2012-10-16 Revised:2013-04-28 Online:2013-12-20 Published:2014-01-21

Abstract:

Radiolaria is an important group of modern marine zooplankton, which can occur in the whole water column (from the surface all the way down to several kilometers deep). It is also an indispensable micropaleontology fossil in the deep-sea sediments. Now, it is generally known that living radiolarians takes on distinct characteristics of vertical zoning, with regional difference in its vertical distribution. Many studies found that certain radiolarian species living in different water depths may be correlated with water-mass distributions, which can be used to indicate those water masses and reconstruct the paleo water masses. This paper reviews the recent progress in vertical distribution of living radiolarians, with an emphasis on its implication and application in modern oceanography and paleoceanography, and gives a general outlook for radiolarian depth characteristics study.

Key words: living radiolarians, vertical distribution, water-mass implication, plankton net, sediment trap

CLC Number: 

  • P735.532