213 Cushman Symposium: Microfossils of Extremophiles: Living in the Danger Zone

This session will assemble studies documenting microfossil presence and/or microfossil-generating taxa in extreme environments, widely defined present and past, and those elucidating adaptations employed by extremophiles, to inform interpretations of the geologic record.

Tuesday, 21 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 303C

Participants

• Chair Joan Bernhard
• Chair Scott Ishman
• Chair Fabiana de Almeida

Presentations

• 1:35 PM
  Living in the Margins: Benthic Foraminiferal Strategies Across Environmental Extremes, from Modern Oxygen-Depleted Waters to Paleogene Hyperthermals
  Ashley Burkett, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK and Donald Penman, Utah State University, Logan, UT and Brittany Hupp, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA and Trenity Ford, Oklahoma State University - Geology, Stillwater, OK and Oghalomeno Ononeme, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK and Anthony Rathburn, California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA and Elizabeth Scrudder, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Ok
  413644 (Technical Sessions)
• 1:55 PM
  Benthic Foraminiferal Ecology from a New IODP Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary Record Near Deccan Volcanism Activity
  Debarpita Paul, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma and Ashley Burkett, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma and Lucien Nana Yobo, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas and Isabel Fendley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania and Courtney Sprain, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida and Thomas Westerhold, University of Bremen, Bremen and Steve Bohaty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg
  414776 (Technical Sessions)
• 2:10 PM
  Early Permian Microbial Biomarkers and Foraminifera Characteristic of Methane Seeps and Surrounding Putrid Mud: Extremophiles or Conservatives
  David Haig, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
  412093 (Technical Sessions)
• 2:25 PM
  Tracing Methane Seepage Events and Hypoxia using Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages from the Bering Sea (IODP Site U1339)
  Gael Ndi Nkwain, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX and Christina Belanger, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX and Carlos Alvarez Zarikian, Texas A&M University, IODP, College Station, TX
  414068 (Technical Sessions)
• 2:40 PM
  Signals from the Seep: Foraminiferal Assemblages and δ¹³C Insights from the Chilean Margin
  Gracie Babineaux, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA and Davide Oppo, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, School of Geosciences, Lafayette, LA and Adam Skarke, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi and Jeffrey Beeson, Oregon State University, Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resource Studies (CIMERS), Corvalis, Oregon and Kaustubh Thirumalai, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
  412676 (Technical Sessions)
• 3:10 PM
  Constraining the habitat of Globorotaloides hexagonus, a low-oxygen affiliated planktic foraminifera
  Catherine Davis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC and Rachel Alcorn, North Caroline State University, Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA and Lily Ramos, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA and Shannon Doherty, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska and Jennifer Fehrenbacher, Oregon State University CEOAS, Corvallis, OR and Karen Wishner, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, Rhode Island and Scott Wankel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, Massachusetts and Fatma Gomaa, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, Massachusetts and Joan Bernhard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
  412136 (Technical Sessions)
• 3:30 PM
  Deformed Tests of Foraminifera from a Polluted Deep Ocean Dumpsite
  Ashley Burkett, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK and Amanda Harding, Oklahoma State University, Mannford, OK
  413914 (Technical Sessions)
• 3:45 PM
  Benthic foraminiferal community structure in submerged cave systems of the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel Island, Mexico
  Shari Rohret, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA and Joan Bernhard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
  413331 (Technical Sessions)
• 4:00 PM
  Foraminifera and Other Organisms Living an Extreme Life Beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica
  Robert Leckie, Univ Massachusetts - Amherst, Amherst, MA and Samantha Bombard, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA and Serena Dameron, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA and Megan Heins, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE and Giuseppe Cortese, Earth Sciences New Zealand, Lower Hutt and Gavin Dunbar, Victoria University, Wellington and Jason Coenen, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE and David Harwood, Univ Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
  414325 (Technical Sessions)
• 4:15 PM
  Protoplasmic Plasticity: Structural and Functional Keys to the Success of Foraminifera in Extreme Environments
  Samuel Bowser, NY State Department of Health (retired), Albany, New York
  412450 (Technical Sessions)
• 4:30 PM
  All Benthic Foraminifera Living in Anoxia Are Not Biologically Identical: Use of Different Metabolisms By Microscale Neighbors
  Joan Bernhard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA and Fatma Gomaa, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
  414389 (Technical Sessions)