Response of deep-sea biodiversity to abrupt deglacial and Holocene climate changes in the North Atlantic Ocean

Aim: Little is known about how marine biodiversity responds to oceanographic and climatic changes over the decadal to centennial time-scales which are most relevant for predicted climate changes due to greenhouse gas forcing. This paper aims to reveal decadal–centennial scale deep-sea biodiversity dynamics for the last 20,000 years and then explore potential environmental drivers. Location: The North Atlantic Ocean. Methods: We investigated deep-sea benthic microfossil records to reveal biodiversity dynamics and subsequently applied comprehensive ecological modelling to test possible environmental factors (i.e. surface productivity, seasonality of productivity or deepwater circulation related to bottom-water temperature) that may have influenced deep-sea biodiversity over these time-scales. Results: Deep-sea biodiversity changed synchronously with stadial–interstadial climate changes over the last 20,000 years across a large area of the North Atlantic in both ostracod crustaceans and fo...