Figure 5.

a) Coccolith mass estimated for individual coccoliths from four different coccolithophore species. b) Collective estimated coccolith mass against coccolith length. Inlay: the maximum thickness of coccolith from image reconstruction, Pearson's r=0.58. c) Collective mass plotted on a logarithmic scale. Circles: grey—E. huxleyi (RCC1216), blue—C. leptoporus (RCC1130), red—G. oceanica (RCC1314) and C. braaudii (RCC1198). Line of best fit over all data: slope=2.78±0.09 and Pearson's r=0.94. The data for E. huxleyi, G. oceanica and C. leptoporus were measured directed from their respective culturing medium with added 10 mM H₂BQ acid precursor, whereas those for C. braaudii is the collective data from all four electrolytes as seen in Figure 2 d).