New in @science.org: Calcifying plankton #coccolithophores, #foraminifera & #pteropods quietly drive the ocean carbon pump. Their traits (incl. “shallow dissolution”) are missing from many climate models. Time to put CaCO₃ back in the picture. #ClimateScience 🌊 doi.org/10.1126/scie... #protistsonsky
Calcifying plankton: From biomineralization to global change
The cycling of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the ocean is closely linked to seawater alkalinity and the regulation of atmospheric CO2. In the modern pelagic ocean, almost all CaCO3 is produced by three...
doi.org
October 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
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Calcifying plankton regulates the ocean’s thermostat by capturing and cycling carbon. Coccolithophores, the main producers of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), are especially sensitive to ocean acidification, while foraminifers and pteropods face pressures from warming waters and oxygen loss.
October 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
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Coccolithophores, just μms across, with elaborate carbonate shells, capture billions of tons of CO2 every year, along with calcifying forams & pteropods. But how much is permanently removed from the biosphere is unclear, @icta-uab.bsky.social's Patrizia Ziveri tells me. Esp with global warming.
October 23, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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‘Ghost’ fossils of early coccolithophores point to a Triassic diversification of marine calcifying organisms www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊
‘Ghost’ fossils of early coccolithophores point to a Triassic diversification of marine calcifying organisms - Nature Communications
Here, the authors elucidate the evolutionary origins of coccolithophores, identifying impressions of their calcium carbonate skeletons in ~241- million-year-old rocks. Their presence in the Triassic, ...
www.nature.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:31 AM
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TOMORROW is the great day!! Join to see @coocoo4coccos.bsky.social dissertation defense in #coccolithophores at BATS!!!!
The Great Day is here! @coocoo4coccos.bsky.social will be defending with PhD in October 10, at 1 pm EST. If your are interested in #coccolitophores please join in using the zoom link below!
October 9, 2025 at 5:23 PM
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Check out our video!🥳Multifaceted Contributions of Coccolithophores to Ocean Carbon Export
#Coccolithophores #ocean #carbon
@olarjournal.bsky.social
spj.science.org/doi/10.34133...
#Coccolithophores #ocean #carbon
@olarjournal.bsky.social
spj.science.org/doi/10.34133...
September 24, 2025 at 2:45 AM
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The photosystem I and light-harvesting proteins of marine coccolithophores assemble into a huge molecular machine that efficiently captures, transfers, and converts light energy, demonstrating the evolutionary diversity of photosynthesis.
Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4mZBkpy
Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4mZBkpy
September 11, 2025 at 6:16 PM
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💬 We are recruiting! ⚠️🌊
2️⃣❕Two fully funded salary positions for students who want to do their PhD work on coccolithophores and future ocean!
One is more bioinformatics 🧬 oriented and the other is more linked to organic chemistry 🧪
➡️if interested write❕
✍🏼 ✉️ #AcademicTwitter
2️⃣❕Two fully funded salary positions for students who want to do their PhD work on coccolithophores and future ocean!
One is more bioinformatics 🧬 oriented and the other is more linked to organic chemistry 🧪
➡️if interested write❕
✍🏼 ✉️ #AcademicTwitter
September 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM
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They’re smaller than dust, but crucial for Earth’s climate
https://www.europesays.com/2481890/
Smaller than a grain of dust and shaped like minute discs, coccolithophores are microscopic ocean dwellers with an…
https://www.europesays.com/2481890/
Smaller than a grain of dust and shaped like minute discs, coccolithophores are microscopic ocean dwellers with an…
October 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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The photosystem I and light-harvesting proteins of marine coccolithophores assemble into a huge molecular machine that efficiently captures, transfers, and converts light energy, demonstrating the evolutionary diversity of photosynthesis and the ultimate pursuit of light.
Contents | Science 389, 6765
scim.ag
September 12, 2025 at 3:32 PM
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Last week, researchers from #UGent & #VLIZ chased a coccolithophore bloom in the central North Sea aboard the RV Simon Stevin. Find out why coccolithophores are a unique piece of the ocean’s carbon cycle puzzle. 👉 www.marsens-ugent.be/post/chasing... Part of #BERNARDO funded by #VLAIO #BlauweCluster
June 10, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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🌊 New study reveals that silica-rich diatoms, not coccolithophores, drive bright satellite signals south of the Great Calcite Belt in the Southern Ocean
Diatom frustules mimic calcite reflectance; reshaping how we interpret ocean colour, plankton biogeog and carbon export
phys.org/news/2025-08...
Diatom frustules mimic calcite reflectance; reshaping how we interpret ocean colour, plankton biogeog and carbon export
phys.org/news/2025-08...
New study illuminates how diatoms thrive in—and light up—the Southern Ocean
An area of the remote Southern Ocean that's long confused ocean color satellites by reflecting large amounts of turquoise-colored light appears to be full of silica-rich diatoms, according to a new st...
phys.org
August 5, 2025 at 7:44 PM
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Despite their microscopic size, coccolithophores are among the planet’s most powerful carbon processors. Each year, they produce more than 1.5 billion tonnes of calcium carbonate, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and producing oxygen.
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Tiny architects, titanic climate impact: scientists call for October 10 to become International Coccolithophore Day
Microscopic organisms that regulate Earth’s climate and sustain ocean ecosystems take centre stage in a new awareness campaign. Five European research organisations propose 10 October as Interna...
www.eurekalert.org
October 12, 2025 at 12:15 PM
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#Coccolithophores are single celled organisms which perform #Photosynthesis for the creation of energy.
They construct intricate plates of armour - made of calcium carbonate - which they cover themselves with to protect their delicate internal cell.
knowledgezone.co.in/kbits/66ae53...
They construct intricate plates of armour - made of calcium carbonate - which they cover themselves with to protect their delicate internal cell.
knowledgezone.co.in/kbits/66ae53...
Coccolithophore
Coccolithophores are microscopic, single-celled marine algae that play a crucial role in Earth's climate system. They are renowned for their ability to produce tiny calcium carbonate plates called coc...
knowledgezone.co.in
August 6, 2024 at 9:37 AM
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Shoutout to my Micropaleontology /Quaternary Geology Professor who made herself a last minute Coccolithophores costume for Halloween out of a plastic bag and plastic plates 😂 What a legend
March 27, 2024 at 2:41 PM
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NASA satellites have finally solved the decades-old Antarctic glow mystery—it isn’t alien light, but sunlight reflecting off blooms of silica-rich diatoms and coccolithophores in the Southern Ocean, reshaping how we see polar ecosystems.
opentools.ai/news/nasas-a...
opentools.ai/news/nasas-a...
August 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
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⚠️A recent study reveals that a novel acidic organelle in the marine phytoplankton Scyphosphaera apsteinii plays a dual role in both phagocytosis and autophagy, highlighting its multifunctional catabolic capabilities. #coccolithophores 🌊 #protistsonsky
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
March 4, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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For a week, we've been dropping hints. Today, you meet coccolithophores.
They've been working without recognition for millions of years, building calcium plate shells, producing oxygen, capturing atmospheric carbon. Their blooms are visible from space, yet most people have never heard of them.
They've been working without recognition for millions of years, building calcium plate shells, producing oxygen, capturing atmospheric carbon. Their blooms are visible from space, yet most people have never heard of them.
October 10, 2025 at 1:14 PM
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Meet coccolithophores, tiny organisms shaping our climate by capturing CO2 and building ocean ecosystems.
They've worked for millions of years unrecognised. They've earned their day.
We're supporting a new bid to make #CoccolithophoreDay 10th Oct!
#InvisibleHeroes #OceanGuardians #ClimateWarriors
They've worked for millions of years unrecognised. They've earned their day.
We're supporting a new bid to make #CoccolithophoreDay 10th Oct!
#InvisibleHeroes #OceanGuardians #ClimateWarriors
October 10, 2025 at 8:59 AM
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In the category of the fossil record by the volume of the remains.
•Everything you've ever heard of: dinosaurs, sabertooth cats, mamooths.
•Some obscure-sounding category: foraminifera, coccolithophores, stromatoporans.
🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #EvoBio
•Everything you've ever heard of: dinosaurs, sabertooth cats, mamooths.
•Some obscure-sounding category: foraminifera, coccolithophores, stromatoporans.
🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #EvoBio
September 18, 2024 at 10:53 AM
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The largest eukaryotic photosystem complex has been structurally characterized in coccolithophores, revealing highly efficient light harvesting and energy transfer critical to marine photosynthesis. doi.org/g93hhv
Researchers reveal molecular assembly and efficient light harvesting of largest eukaryotic photosystem complex
Coccolithophores are a type of single-celled microalgae that fix CO2 into organic matter and precipitate calcium carbonate, profoundly shaping ocean optics, carbon export, and long-term carbon storage.
phys.org
September 12, 2025 at 3:37 PM
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We compare differences in the functional traits of the three major groups of calcifying plankton – coccolithophores, foraminifera, and pteropods – and evaluate how these trait differences shape their unique roles in the carbon and alkalinity cycles, and sensitivities to climate change/acidification
October 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
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We very much suspected dissolution was a major reason that a lot of the open ocean aragonite (mostly pteropods) does not make it to the sediment... It turns out the same might be true for calcites (when it comes to coccolithophores). ⚒️🌊🧪
Microzooplankton grazing on coccolithophores is a previously unrecognized biological mechanism affecting the ballasting of organic carbon to deeper waters.
It could recycle up to 50% of biogenic calcite production in the surface and mesopelagic ocean
👏🏼 Adam’s group
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
It could recycle up to 50% of biogenic calcite production in the surface and mesopelagic ocean
👏🏼 Adam’s group
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Microzooplankton grazing on the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi and its role in the global calcium carbonate cycle
Microzooplankton grazing on coccolithophore calcite provides an important mechanism for shallow dissolution of calcium carbonate.
www.science.org
November 10, 2024 at 8:16 AM
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"Using inorganic carbon to make their calcite scales, the belt's coccolithophores play an essential role in the global carbon cycle, concentrating an estimated 30 million tonnes of the element each year."
“A beaming patch of turquoise amidst the Southern Ocean's blue-grey waters that's baffled scientists ever since it was first spotted in satellite images in the early 2000s may have finally been deciphered by oceanographers.”
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/a-mysterious...
🧪 🦑
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/a-mysterious...
🧪 🦑
A Mysterious Glow in The Ocean Turns Out to Be Billions of Tiny Creatures
A beaming patch of turquoise amidst the Southern Ocean's blue-grey waters that's baffled scientists ever since it was first spotted in satellite images in the early 2000s may have finally been deciphe...
www.sciencealert.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:40 AM
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My brilliant wife immediately identified those as Coccolithophores!
December 5, 2023 at 7:25 AM
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