The size structure of phytoplankton assemblages strongly influences energy transfer through the food web and carbon cycling in the ocean. We determined the macroevolutionary trajectory in the median size of dinoflagellate cysts to compare with the macroevolutionary size change in other plankton groups. We found the median size of the dinoflagellate cysts generally decreases through the Cenozoic. Diatoms exhibit an extremely similar pattern in their median size over time, even though species diversity of the two groups has opposing trends, indicating that the macroevolutionary size change is an active response to selection pressure rather than a passive response to changes in diversity. The changes in the median size of dinoflagellate cysts are highly correlated with both deep ocean temperatures and the thermal gradient between the surface and deep waters, indicating the magnitude and frequency of nutrient availability may have acted as a selective factor in the macroevolution of cell size in the plankton. Our results suggest that climate, because it affects stratification in the ocean, is a universal abiotic driver that has been responsible for macroevolutionary changes in the size structure of marine planktonic communities over the past 65 million years of Earth's history.
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