What's Next For Earth

This work shows some interesting, undescribed foraminifera which are in parallel with the scope of my scientific work. Long, thread-like, or pod-like, soft-shelled forams are distributed in the oceans worldwide. Their taxonomy is poorly studied, and currently, they are lumped into genera Nemogullmia, Shepheardella, and Tinogullmia. According to SSU rDNA gene phylogeny [blue branching pattern in the center], many of these forams fall into two sister groups ‘G’ and ‘TIN’.

As evident from the image, some of these guys are masters of entanglement, thanks to their slender shape and (!) two maws [apertures] on either end of the tube-like cell. E.g. the red “Gordian knot” in the upper left is made by several red Shepheardella which were isolated from the Gulf of Eilat, Israel. The gold cell in the right part is shown with its pseudopodial network (granuloreticulopodia) expanded.

The “infinity sign” is based on the real photo of one White Sea isolate, conveniently demonstrating that the existence of these delicate lifeforms predates humans and will likely continue no matter what, forming the basis of life with other unicellular eukaryotes. Yet, in order to explore and document species in the most sensitive habitats, we must prevent the loss of biodiversity due to industrial activities (e.g. polymetallic nodule mining in the Deep Sea) or Climate Change.