Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:52:22.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A comparative study of Silurian and recent deposit-feeding bivalve communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Jeffrey S. Levinton  and
Richard K. Bambach
Jeffrey S. Levinton
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794
Richard K. Bambach
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two communities dominated by deposit-feeding bivalves are recognized in Quisset Harbor, Massachusetts. Interference with life position and sediment preconditioning restrict the distribution of some species. The Eel Grass Community, dominated by Nucula proxima, comprises primarily non-siphonate forms which live in fecal-pellet rich, high-water-content, oxygenated sediment. The sediment texture results from active burrowing. This soft, mobile sediment readily clogs the siphons of siphonate bivalves. The Channel Community, dominated by Yoldia limatula, comprises primarily siphonate forms which live in partly compacted, low-water-content muds. Each community is characterized by abundant surface, shallow, and deep feeding species. Competition for food has generated this distinct stratification in feeding depth of the dominant species with each community.

Similar competitive relationships, affecting both species occurrence and trophic stratification, are apparent in three Silurian age deposit-feeding bivalve communities from the McAdam Brook Formation of Nova Scotia. A community dominated by four non-siphonate species inhabited soupy, high-water-content muds. A community dominated by three siphonate species lived in cohesive muds. A mixed community, dominated by four species, two non-siphonate and two siphonate species (the most abundant of which are present, but not as the most abundant forms, in the other communities), characterized the mid-way point of the ecotone between the other two communities.

These deposit-feeding bivalve dominated communities have similar structural patterns although separated by 400 million years and despite environmental differences and evolutionary changes. Both response to physical factors, such as sediment character, and interspecific competition impose and maintain this type of community structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , Winter 1975 , pp. 97 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Allen, J. A. 1954. A comparative study of the British species of Nucula and Nuculana. Jour. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 33:457–472.Google Scholar
Andrewartha, H. G., and Birch, L. C. 1954. The Distribution and Abundance of Animals. Univ. of Chicago Press. Chicago.Google Scholar
Bambach, R. K. 1969. Bivalvia of the Siluro-Devonian Arisaig Group, Nova Scotia. Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University. 376 pp.Google Scholar
Bambach, R. K. 1973. Tectonic deformation of composite-mold fossil Bivalvia (Mollusca) Amer. Jour. Sci. Cooper Vol. 273-A:409–430.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W. 1969a. Central Appalachian Late Ordovician Communities. Geol. Soc. America Bull. 80:193–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretsky, P. W. 1969b. Evolution of Paleozoic benthic marine invertebrate communities. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 6:45–59.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W. 1970. Late Ordovician Benthic Marine Communities in North-Central New York. New YorkSt. Mus. and Sci. Service Bull. 414. 34 p.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W., and Lorenz, D. M. 1970a. Adaptive response to environmental stability: a unifying concept in paleoecology. Proc. North American Paleont. Conv., Pt. E, p. 522–550.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W., and Lorenz, D. M. 1970b. An essay on genetic-adaptive strategies and mass extinction. Geol. Soc. America Bull. 81:2449–2456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, W. L., and Wilson, E. O. 1956. Character displacement. Syst. Zool. 5:49–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, J. B. 1967. Dispersion and demography of some infaunal echinoderm populations. Symp. Zool. Soc. London. 20:1–11.Google Scholar
Buzas, M. A. 1968. On the spatial distribution of foraminifera. Contr. Cushman Found. Foraminiferal Res. 19:1–11.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y. 1954. The palaeoecology of the Top Hosie shale (Lower Carboniferous) at a locality near Kilsyth. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London. 110:103–119.Google Scholar
Driscoll, E. G. 1966. Morphology and evolution of certain Paleozoic Nuculanidae from the midcontinental United States. Acta Mus. Nat. Prague. 22(1):1–26.Google Scholar
Fenchel, T. 1969. The ecology of marine microbenthos: IV. Structure and function of the benthic ecosystem, its chemical and physical factors and the microfauna communities with special reference to the cilated protozoa. Ophelia. 6:1–182.Google Scholar
Fenchel, T. 1970. Studies on the decomposition of organic detritus derived from the turtle grass Thalassia testundinum. Limnol. and Oceanogr. 15:14–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, R. W. 1968. The lebensspuren of some common marine invertebrates near Beaufort, North Carolina. I. Pelecypod burrows. Jour. Paleontology. 42:570–574.Google Scholar
Gilat, E. 1963. The macrobenthic animal communities off the Israeli continental shelf on the Mediterranean. Rapp. Proc. C.I.E.S.M.M. 17(2):103–106.Google Scholar
Inger, R. F., and Greenberg, B. 1966. Ecological and competitive relations among three species of frogs (Genus Rana). Ecology. 47:746–759.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. G. 1970. Taghanic onlap and the end of North American Devonian provinciality. Geol. Soc. America Bull. 81:2077–2106.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1960. Models and methods for analysis of the mode of formation of fossil assemblages. Geol. Soc. America Bull. 71:1075–1086.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1964. The community approach to paleoecology. pp. 107–134, In, Imbrie, J. and Newell, N., eds., Approaches to Paleoecology. John Wiley. New York. 432 pp.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1971. Animal-sediment relations in shallow water benthic communities. Marine Geol. 11:93–104.Google Scholar
Jones, N. S. 1950. Marine bottom communities. Biol. Rev. 25:283–313.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1969. Deposit-feeding associations in Quisset Harbor. Systematics-Ecology Progr., 7th Ann. Rept. Progress, Marine Biol. Lab., Woods Hole, p. 34–35.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1970. The paleoecological significance of opportunistic species. Lethaia. 3:69–78.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1971a. The ecology of shallow water deposit feeding communities. Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University. 284 pp.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1971b. Control of tellinacean (Mollusca: Bivalvia) feeding behavior by predation. Limnol. Oceanogr. 16:660–662.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1972. Stability and trophic structure in deposit-feeding and suspension-feeding communities. Amer. Natural. 106:472–486.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S., and Bambach, R. K. 1969. Silurian and Recent deposit-feeding bivalves communities: a comparative study. Progr. and Abstracts, Geol. Soc. America Ann. Mtg., Atlantic City. p. 134–135.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S., and Bambach, R. K. 1970. Some ecological aspects of bivalve mortality patterns. Amer. Jour. Sci. 268:97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAlester, A. L. 1969. Superfamilies Ctenodontacea, Nuculacea, and Nuculanacea: In, Moore, R. C., ed., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part N Bivalvia, p. N227–N235.Google Scholar
McAlester, A. L. 1970. Animal extinctions, oxygen consumption, and atmospheric history. Jour. Paleontology. 44:405–409.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. 1969. Species packing, and what interspecies competition minimizes. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 64:1369–1371.Google Scholar
Mangum, C. P. 1964. Studies on speciation in maldanid polychaetes of the North American Atlantic coast. II. Distribution and competitive interaction of five sympatric species. Limnol. Oceanogr. 9:12–26.Google Scholar
Miller, R. S. 1967. Pattern and process in competition. Adv. Ecolog. Res. 4:1–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, H. B. 1931. The muds of the Clyde sea area. III. Chemical and physical conditions and fauna. Jour. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 17:325–358.Google Scholar
Nesis, K. N. 1965. Aspects of the food structure of a marine biocoenosis. Oceanology. 5:96–107.Google Scholar
Newell, R. C. 1965. The role of detritus in the nutrition of two marine deposit-feeders, the prosobranch Hydrobia ulvae and the bivalve Macoma balthica. Proc. Zool. Soc. London. 144:25–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, R. C. 1970. Biology of Intertidal Animals. American Elsevier. New York. 555 pp.Google Scholar
Pettibone, M. H. 1963. Marine polychaete worms of the New England region. U. S. N. M., Bull., no. 227, part 1. 356 pp.Google Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1969. An Introduction to Mathematical Ecology. Wiley-Interscience. New York. 286 pp.Google Scholar
Rhoads, D. C. 1967. Biogenic reworking of intertidal and subtidal sediments in Barnstable Harbor and Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Jour. Geol. 75:461–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoads, D. C., and Young, D. K. 1970. The influence of deposit-feeding organisms on sediment stability and community trophic structure. Jour. Mar. Res. 28:150–178.Google Scholar
Ross, H. H. 1957. Principles of natural coexistence indicated by leafhopper populations. Evolution. 11:113–129.Google Scholar
Sanders, H. L. 1956. Oceanography of Long Island Sound, 1952–1954. X. The biology of marine bottom communities. Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Coll. 15:345–414.Google Scholar
Sanders, H. L. 1958. Benthic studies in Buzzards Bay. I. Animal-sediment relationships. Limnol. Oceanogr. 3:245–258.Google Scholar
Sanders, H. L. 1960. Benthic studies in Buzzards Bay. III. The structure of the soft-bottom community. Limnol. Oceanogr. 5:138–153.Google Scholar
Savilov, A. I. 1957. Biological aspect of the bottom fauna groupings of the North Okhotsk Sea. pp. 67–136, In, Nikitin, B. N., ed. Marine Biology; Trans. Inst. Oceanology. 302 pp.Google Scholar
Seki, H., and Taga, N. 1963. Microbiological studies on the decomposition of chitin in the marine environment. I–V. Oceanogr. Soc. Japan. 19:27–81.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E., Weese, A. O., Rice, L. A., Rasmussen, D. I., and MacLean, A. 1935. Some marine biotic communities of the Pacific coast of North America, Part I, General survey of the communities. Ecol. Monogr. 5:251–332.Google Scholar
Slobodkin, L. B. 1968. Toward a predictive theory of evolution. pp. 187–205. In, Lewontin, R. C., ed. Population Biolgoy and Evolution. Syracuse Univ. Press., Syracuse, 205 pp.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1971. Relation of Shell Form to Life Habits of the Bivalvia (Mollusca). Geol. Soc. America, Mem. 125. 296 pp.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1972. Functional morphology and evolution of by sally attached bivalve mollusks. Jour. Paleontology. 46:165–212.Google Scholar
Sutton, R. G., Bowen, Z. P., and McAlester, A. L. 1970. Marine shelf environments of the Upper Devonian Sonyea group of New York. Geol. Soc. America Bull. 81:2975–2992.Google Scholar
Thorson, G. 1957. Bottom communities (sublittoral or shallow shelf). pp. 461–534, In, Hedgpeth, J. W., ed. Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology, v.1, Ecology, Geol. Soc. America, Mem. 67. 1296 pp.Google Scholar
Turpaeva, E. P. 1957. Food interrelationships of dominant species in marine benthic biocoenoses. pp. 171–185, In, Nikitin, B. N., ed. Marine Biology, Trans. Inst. Oceanology, 302 pp.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W. 1968. The evolution of ecological units above the population level. Jour. Paleontology. 42:253–267.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W. 1969. Patterns of taxonomic and ecological structure of the shell benthes during Phanerozoic time. Palaeontology. 12:684–709.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W. 1971. Resource supply and species diversity patterns. Lethaia. 4:51–61.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W., and Moores, E. M. 1972. Global tectonics and the fossil record. Jour. Geol. 80:167–184.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R., and Laporte, L. F. 1970. Congruent fossil communities from Ordovician and Devonian carbonates of New York. Jour. Paleontology. 44:928–944.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R., and Bambach, R. K. 1971. The significance of fossil assemblages from fine-grained sediments: time-averaged communities. Geol. Soc. Amer. Abstracts with Programs, 1971. 3:783–784.Google Scholar
Yonge, C. M. 1939. The protobranchiate mollusca: a functional intrepretation of their structure and evolution. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London. B230:79–147.Google Scholar
Yonge, C. M. 1961. Life and environment on the bed of the sea. Adv. Sci. 18:383–391.Google Scholar
Young, D. K. 1971. Effects of infauna on the sediment and seston of a subtidal environment. Vie et Milieu, Supp. 22:557–571.Google Scholar
Ziegler, A. M., Cocks, L. R. M., and Bambach, R. K. 1968. The composition and structure of Lower Silurian marine communities. Lethaia. 1:1–27.Google Scholar
Zobell, C. E. 1939. Occurrence and activity of bacteria in marine sediments. In, Trask, P. D., ed. Recent Marine Sediments. p. 419–427, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Tulsa.Google Scholar