Metabolic rates are sensitive to environmental conditions and can skew geochemical measurements. However, there is no way to track these rates through time. Here we investigate the controls of test porosity in planktonic foraminifera (organisms commonly used in paleoclimate studies) as a potential proxy for metabolic rate. We found that the porosity varies with body size and temperature, two key controls on metabolic rate, and that it can respond to rapid changes in ambient temperature.

It is still unclear whether foraminifera (calcifying plankton that play an important role in cycling carbon) will have difficulty in making their shells in more acidic oceans, with different studies often reporting apparently conflicting results. We used live lab cultures, mathematical models, and fossil measurements to test this question, and found low pH does reduce calcification. However, we find this response is likely size-dependent, which may have obscured this response in other studies.