“…Traditionally, variations in oceanographic conditions and marine biological communities have been derived from the analyses of microfossils preserved in sediments (Yasuhara et al., 2020). For example, microscopy analyses of fossilized eukaryotes, such as diatoms, foraminifera, dinoflagellate cysts, radiolaria, and coccolithophores (all belonging to the large group of single‐celled protists) have been the gold standard to reconstruct paleoenvironments, paleoproductivity and palaeoceanographic conditions (Mudie et al., 2006; O’Brien et al., 2021; Oksman et al., 2019; Weckström et al., 2020; Yasuhara et al., 2020). However, such microfossil‐based reconstructions are limited, as only the more robust and fossilized species are preserved in seafloor sediments, meaning that the vast number of soft‐bodied organisms that have also thrived in the past ocean are not accounted for (e.g., many flagellates, chlorophytes, haptophytes, ciliates, zooplankton) (Ellegaard et al., 2020; Witkowski et al., 2016).…”