Catching Forams

Planktonic foraminifera are unicellar organisms, which create a little shell made out of carbonate. Since these shells are used in climate research, a research group of the NIOZ focusses on conducting growth experiments with these foraminifera. They are interested in how foraminifera respond to living in a warmer, saltier or more acidic ocean. In this short movie, Alice Webb and Didier de Bakker collect these living planktonic foraminifera while scuba diving near the researchstation CNSI on St. Eustatia. Thereafter, the foraminifera are transferred to the lab, where they are placed in different experimental set-ups.