Planktonic calcifiers are potentially sensitive bioindicators of both present and past responses of the ocean system to change. These organisms are also important components of marine food webs and key contributors to biogeochemical cycling throughout the world’s oceans. Anthropogenic activities are increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide at much faster rates than have been observed from the fossil record, impacting the chemistry and temperature of the ocean and, consequently, the organisms that live in it. The response of planktonic calcifiers, including pteropods, heteropods, and foraminifera, to anthropogenic change will impact both marine ecology and carbon export in the future. Traditional net tows, sediment trap analyses, molecular techniques and laboratory experiments are used to investigate the modern ocean, and taxonomic and geochemical techniques are used as a window into the role of plankton in past oceans and to monitor long-term ecosystem changes.

We invite contributions that address the role of planktonic calcifiers in marine food webs, their biogeography and biodiversity, their biomineralization processes, their contributions to biogeochemical cycling, their ability to record water column properties, and their use as proxies for times of past change, with a goal of better understanding the effects of a changing ocean on these important organisms.