Arctic Ostracode Database

The Arctic Ostracode Database provides species census data for about 100 species of benthic marine Ostracoda from modern surface and late Quaternary sediments from various parts of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas. Ostracodes are a microfossil group of bivalved Crustacea that secrete a calcareous shell commonly preserved in sediments in the Arctic region. Because many ostracode species have ecological limits controlled by temperature, salinity, oxygen, food and other factors, they can provide an important tool for paleoceanographic reconstruction in the Arctic. Some recent applications of ostracodes to understanding Arctic Ocean history include Briggs (1983), Reimnitz et al. (1983, 1992), McDougall et al. (1986), Clark et al.(1990), Pak et al. (1992), Brouwers et al. (1991), Cronin et al. (1993, 1994, 1995), Penney (1993a,b), Nurnberg et al. (1994), and Briggs and Mudie (in prep.).