''Globigerina bulloides'' is a species of

heterotroph A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

foraminifer Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an ...

with a wide distribution in the

photic zone The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...

of the world's oceans. It is able to tolerate a range of

sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature (SST), or ocean surface temperature, is the ocean temperature close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies according to the measurement method used, but it is between and below the sea surface. Air mass ...

salinities Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

and water densities, and is most abundant at high southern latitudes (up to 40° S), certain high northern latitudes (up to 80° N), and in low-latitude upwelling regions. The density or presence of ''G. bulloides'' may change as a function of

phytoplankton bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompass ...

successions, and they are known to be most abundant during winter and spring months. Like other planktonic foraminifera, ''G. bulloides'' carbonate

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

found in

marine sediment Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble particles that have accumulated on the seafloor. These particles have their origins in soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly ...

s obtained from ocean cores can be used to reconstruct climatic histories, and to align marine sediment cores with one another or with astronomical cycles. In this vein, oxygen isotopic analyses of these forams from drill cores in the North Atlantic have helped precisely date the timing of the onset of northern hemisphere glaciations in the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

ratios are also used in ''G. bulloides'' to reconstruct temperature histories in the world's oceans, as experimental cultures of the foram have shown magnesium to calcium ratios to increase exponentially with increasing ocean temperature. At one point in the 19th century, researchers of the life-histories of this genus came to the firm conclusion that these animals lived and died in the ooze in which they were found, many hundreds of feet below sea level. This has now proved to have been an incorrect assumption, despite the thoroughness of those investigations.

References

Foraminifera species Globigerinina Species described in 1826 {{Foraminifera-stub