Abstract
Molluscan faunal turnover in the Plio-Pleistocene of the tropical western Atlantic has been attributed to drops in temperature or primary productivity, but these competing hypotheses have not been assessed ecologically. To test these alternatives, we compiled data on changing molluscan life habits and trophic composition over 12 million years derived from 463 newly made collections from the southwestern Caribbean. Shelf ecosystems have altered markedly in trophic structure since the Late Pliocene. Predatory gastropods and suspension-feeding bivalves declined significantly in abundance, but not in diversity, and reef-dwellers became common. By contrast, all other ecological life habits remained remarkably stable. Food-web changes strongly support the hypothesis that declining regional nutrient supply had an increasing impact on regional macroecology, culminating in a faunal turnover.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (159.4 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Allmon W. D., Rosenberg G., Portell R. W., Schindler K. S. Diversity of atlantic coastal plain mollusks since the pliocene. Science. 1993 Jun 11;260(5114):1626–1629. doi: 10.1126/science.260.5114.1626. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Beck J. W., Edwards R. L., Ito E., Taylor F. W., Recy J., Rougerie F., Joannot P., Henin C. Sea-surface temperature from coral skeletal strontium/calcium ratios. Science. 1992 Jul 31;257(5070):644–647. doi: 10.1126/science.257.5070.644. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Collins L. S., Budd A. F., Coates A. G. Earliest evolution associated with closure of the Tropical American Seaway. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jun 11;93(12):6069–6072. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.12.6069. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jackson J. B., Jung P., Coates A. G., Collins L. S. Diversity and extinction of tropical american mollusks and emergence of the isthmus of panama. Science. 1993 Jun 11;260(5114):1624–1626. doi: 10.1126/science.260.5114.1624. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Keigwin L. Isotopic paleoceanography of the Caribbean and East pacific: role of panama uplift in late neogene time. Science. 1982 Jul 23;217(4557):350–353. doi: 10.1126/science.217.4557.350. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]