Description: Studies of carnivorous behaviour of benthic foraminifers are rare and mostly focused on laboratory experiments. Controlled experiments have shown that some agglutinated and intertidal species prey on meio- to macrofaunal metazoans. Here we present observations of the behaviour of specimens of the infaunal benthic foraminiferal species, Globobulimina auriculata and G. turgida, made within several hours of collection from ∼117 m depth in the Alsbäck Deep of the Gullmar Fjord, Sweden. We observed live nematodes within the tests of G. auriculata. Video observations recorded over a 17-hour period showed a G. auriculata specimen with a living nematode whose tail appeared to be entangled within the foraminifer's reticulopodial network. The nematode eventually coiled around the foraminifer's aperture and became much less active, though ingestion into the foraminifer's test was not documented. If these observations indicate feeding by G. auriculata, they differ from previous observations of predation by Ammonia tepida, which utilised external reticulopodial activity to extract the soft tissue of its prey. An alternative interpretation of the video observations, consistent with the observations of the live nematodes inside G. auriculata, was that the nematode was attempting to prey upon the foraminifer. The G. turgida specimens, in contrast, relatively quickly surrounded themselves in soft sediment spheres commonly seen in deposit-feeding foraminifers, and were never observed with nematodes within their tests. We speculate that these contrasting feeding strategies might reduce competition and facilitate the coexistence of these two globobuliminid species.

Description: Benthic foraminifera are unicellular eukaryotes that inhabit sediments of aquatic environments. Several foraminifera of the order Rotaliida are known to store and use nitrate for denitrification, a unique energy metabolism among eukaryotes. The rotaliid Globobulimina spp. has been shown to encode an incomplete denitrification pathway of bacterial origins. However, the prevalence of denitrification genes in foraminifera remains unknown and the missing denitrification pathway components are elusive. Analysing transcriptomes and metagenomes of ten foraminifera species from the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone, we show that denitrification genes are highly conserved in foraminifera. We infer of the last common ancestor of denitrifying foraminifera, which enables us to predict further denitrifying species. Additionally, an examination of the foraminifera microbiota reveals evidence for a stable interaction with Desulfobacteracea , which harbour genes that complement the foraminifera denitrification pathway. Our results provide evidence that foraminiferal denitrification is complemented by the foraminifera microbiome. The interaction of Foraminifera with their resident bacteria is at the basis of foraminifera adaptation to anaerobic environments that manifested in ecological success within oxygen depleted habitats.

Description: From 2008 through 2019, a comprehensive research project, SFB 754, Climate - Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean, was funded by the German Research Foundation to investigate the climate-biogeochemistry interactions in the tropical ocean with a particular emphasis on the processes determining the oxygen distribution. During three 4-year long funding phases, a consortium of more than 150 scientists conducted or participated in 34 major research cruises and collected a wealth of physical, biological, chemical, and meteorological data. A common data policy agreed upon at the initiation of the project provided the basis for the open publication of all data. Here we provide an inventory of this unique data set and briefly summarize the various data acquisition and processing methods used.

Description: Significance A substantial component of the global nitrogen cycle is the production of biologically inaccessible dinitrogen attributed to anaerobic denitrification by prokaryotes. Recent evidence identified a eukaryote, foraminifera, as new key players in this “loss” of bioavailable nitrogen. The evolution of denitrification in eukaryotes is a rare event, and the genetic mechanisms of the denitrification pathway in foraminifera are just starting to be elucidated. We present large-scale sequencing analyses of 10 denitrifying foraminiferal species, which reveals the high conservation of the foraminiferal denitrification pathway. We further find evidence for a complementation of denitrification by the foraminiferal microbiome. Together, these findings provide insights into the early evolution of a previously overlooked component in the marine nitrogen cycle. Abstract: Benthic foraminifera are unicellular eukaryotes that inhabit sediments of aquatic environments. Several foraminifera of the order Rotaliida are known to store and use nitrate for denitrification, a unique energy metabolism among eukaryotes. The rotaliid Globobulimina spp. has been shown to encode an incomplete denitrification pathway of bacterial origin. However, the prevalence of denitrification genes in foraminifera remains unknown, and the missing denitrification pathway components are elusive. Analyzing transcriptomes and metagenomes of 10 foraminiferal species from the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone, we show that denitrification genes are highly conserved in foraminifera. We infer the last common ancestor of denitrifying foraminifera, which enables us to predict the ability to denitrify for additional foraminiferal species. Additionally, an examination of the foraminiferal microbiota reveals evidence for a stable interaction with Desulfobacteraceae, which harbor genes that complement the foraminiferal denitrification pathway. Our results provide evidence that foraminiferal denitrification is complemented by the foraminifera-associated microbiome. The interaction of foraminifera with their resident bacteria is at the basis of foraminiferal adaptation to anaerobic environments that manifested in ecological success in oxygen depleted habitats.

Description: Many benthic organisms show aggregated distribution patterns due to the spatial heterogeneity of niches or food availability. In particular, high-abundance patches of benthic foraminifera have been reported that extend from centimetres to metres in diameter in salt marshes or shallow waters. The dimensions of spatial variations of shelf or deep-sea foraminiferal abundances have not yet been identified. Therefore, we studied the distribution of Globobulimina turgida dwelling in the 0–3 cm surface sediment at 118 m water depth in the Alsbäck Deep, Gullmar Fjord, Sweden. Standing stock data from 58 randomly replicated samples depicted a log-normal distribution of G. turgida with weak evidence for an aggregated distribution on a decimetre scale. A model simulation with different patch sizes, outlines, and impedances yielded no significant correlation with the observed variability of G. turgida standing stocks. Instead, a perfect match with a random log-normal distribution of population densities was obtained. The data–model comparison revealed that foraminiferal populations in the Gullmar Fjord were not moulded by any underlying spatial structure beyond 10 cm diameter. Log-normal population densities also characterise data from contiguous, gridded, or random sample replicates reported in the literature. Here, a centimetre-scale heterogeneity was found and interpreted to be a result of asexual reproduction events and restricted mobility of juveniles. Standing stocks of G. turgida from the Alsbäck Deep temporal data series from 1994 to 2021 showed two distinct cohorts of samples of either high or low densities. These cohorts are considered to represent two distinct ecological settings: hypoxic and well-ventilated conditions in the Gullmar Fjord. Environmental forcing is therefore considered to impact the population structure of benthic foraminifera rather than their reproduction dynamics.