TESTING THE EFFECTS OF TROPICAL TEMPERATURE, PRODUCTIVITY, AND MIXED-LAYER-DEPTH ON FORAMINIFERAL TRANSFER-FUNCTIONS

Statistical transfer functions relate living planktonic foraminiferal species of the central equatorial Pacific to measured sea surface temp erature, integrated primary productivity, and mixed-layer depth. The f aunal estimates successfully reconstruct latitudinal patterns observed in both warm (El Nino, February-March 1992) and cool (La Nina, August -September 1992) seasonal settings. Predictions of mixed-layer depth a ppear to be unbiased by temperature or productivity in our data set bu t tend to underestimate deep mixed layers. Interactions between produc tivity and temperature, perhaps through their common influence on resp iration and growth rates, bias foraminiferal transfer functions for bo th properties. Paleoceanographic estimates may be improved by accounti ng for such biological processes that translate the environment into a faunal response preserved in the geologic record.