Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:21:55.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stability of regional brachiopod diversity structure across the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Noel A. Heim
Noel A. Heim*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The middle Carboniferous was an interval of global change when the climate was transitioning from greenhouse to icehouse conditions. Field collections of paleotropical brachiopod assemblages across the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary reveal a taxonomic turnover event in which the overall diversity structure is conserved, despite an apparent regional extinction of 63% of latest Mississippian genera and an apparent regional origination of 50% of earliest Pennsylvanian. An analysis of the global ranges of the brachiopods encountered in the field reveals that turnover was driven primarily by extirpation and immigration rather than true extinctions and originations. Taxonomic richness and evenness are indistinguishable between the latest Mississippian and earliest Pennsylvanian stages. Additive diversity partitioning shows that the within-collection, between-collections (i.e., within-bed), and between-bed diversity components do not change across the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary for richness or evenness. Rank-abundance plots of genera show the same distribution for both stages, but with no correlation between the Mississippian abundances of range-through genera and their abundance in the Pennsylvanian. Detrended correspondence analysis shows a major change in taxonomic composition across that Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary and consistency in the general gradient along which genera were distributed. An estimation of spatio-temporal heterogeneity of taxonomic composition within each stage reveals that the earliest Pennsylvanian was significantly more homogeneous. These results suggest that middle Carboniferous brachiopod assemblages from tropical shallow-water carbonate platform settings were organized by some factor that was independent of the specific taxa present. Furthermore, the increased homogeneity in taxonomic composition in the Morrowan did not affect the overall diversity structure. Strong competitive interactions among taxa do not appear to be important in determining the taxonomic compositions and abundances of brachiopod stage-level assemblages.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , Summer 2009 , pp. 393 - 412
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

Batt, L. S., Montanez, I. P., Isaacson, P., Pope, M. C., Butts, S. H., and Abplanalp, J. 2007. Multi-carbonate component reconstruction of mid-carboniferous (Chesterian) seawater delta C-13. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 256:298–318.Google Scholar
Bennington, J B., and Bambach, R. K. 1996. Statistical testing for paleocommunity recurrence: are similar fossil assemblages ever the same? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 127:107–133.Google Scholar
Cornell, H. V., and Lawton, J. H. 1992. Species interactions, local and regional processes, and limits to the richness of ecological communities: a theoretical perspective. Journal of Animal Ecology 61:1–12.Google Scholar
Dean, R. L., and Connell, J. H. 1987. Marine invertebrates in an algal succession. I. Variations in abundance and diversity with succession. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 109:195–215.Google Scholar
Frakes, L. A., Francis, J. E., and Syktus, J. I. 1992. Climate modes of the Phanerozoic. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gleason, H. A. 1926. The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 53:7–26.Google Scholar
Gradstein, F. M., Ogg, J. G., and Smith, A. G. 2004. A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Handford, C. R. 1995. Baselap patterns and the recognition of lowstand exposure and drowning: a Mississippian-ramp example and its seismic signature. Journal of Sedimentary Research, Section B, Stratigraphy and Global Studies 65:323–337.Google Scholar
Hayek, L. A. C., and Buzas, M. A. 1997. Surveying natural populations. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Heckel, P. H., and Clayton, G. 2006. The Carboniferous System: use of the new official names for the subsystems, series, and stages. Geologica Acta 4:403–407.Google Scholar
Heim, N. A. 2008. A null biogeographic model for quantifying the role of migration in shaping patterns of global taxonomic richness and differentiation diversity, with implications for Ordovician biogeography. Paleobiology 34:195–209.Google Scholar
Hermoyian, C. S., Leighton, L. R., and Kaplan, P. 2002. Testing the role of competition in fossil communities using limiting similarity. Geology 30:15–18.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M. 2008. Margin of error, Version 1.0. Hunt Mountain Software, Athens, Ga.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M., and Patzkowsky, M. E. 2004. Ecosystem structure and stability: middle Upper Ordovician of central Kentucky, USA. Palaios 19:316–331.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M., and Patzkowsky, M. E. 2007. Gradient ecology of a biotic invasion: biofacies of the type Cincinnatian series (Upper Ordovician), Cincinnati, Ohio region, USA. Palaios 22:392–407.Google Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. 2001. The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Hurlbert, S. H. 1971. The nonconcept of species diversity: a critique and alternative parameters. Ecology 52:577–586.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1986. Background and mass extinction: the alternation of macroevolutionary regimes. Science 231:129–133.Google Scholar
Kelley, P. H., and Raymond, A. C. 1991. Migration, origination and extinction of Southern Hemisphere brachiopods during the middle Carboniferous. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 86:23–39.Google Scholar
Lande, R. 1996. Statistics and partitioning of species diversity, and similarity among multiple communities. Oikos 76:5–13.Google Scholar
Magurran, A. E. 2004. Measuring biological diversity. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Manger, W. L., and Sutherland, P. K. 1992. Analysis of sections presumed to be complete across the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary, southern Midcontinent. Pp. 69–79in Sutherland, P. K. and Manger, W. L., eds. Recent advances in Middle Carboniferous biostratigraphy: a symposium. University of Oklahoma, Norman.Google Scholar
Mii, H.-S., Grossman, E. L., and Yancey, T. E. 1999. Carboniferous isotope stratigraphies of North America: implications for Carboniferous paleoceanography and Mississippian glaciation. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111:960–973.Google Scholar
Miller, A. I., and Mao, S. 1998. Scales of diversification and the Ordovician radiation. Pp. 288–310in McKinney, M. L. and Drake, J. A., eds. Biodiversity dynamics: turnover of populations, taxa, and communities. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Oksanen, J., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., O'Hara, B., Simpson, G. L., and Stevens, M. H. H. 2007. vegan: Community Ecology Package, Version 1.8–8.Google Scholar
Patzkowsky, M. E., and Holland, S. M. 2003. Lack of community saturation at the beginning of the Paleozoic plateau: the dominance of regional over local processes. Paleobiology 29:545–560.Google Scholar
Patzkowsky, M. E., and Holland, S. M. 2007. Diversity partitioning of a Late Ordovician marine biotic invasion: controls on diversity in regional ecosystems. Paleobiology 33:295–309.Google Scholar
Peters, S. E. 2004. Evenness of Cambrian-Ordovician benthic marine communities in North America. Paleobiology 30:325–346.Google Scholar
Powell, M. G. 2005. Climatic basis for sluggish macroevolution during the late Paleozoic ice age. Geology 33:381–384.Google Scholar
Powell, M. G. 2007. Latitudinal diversity gradients for brachiopod genera during late Palaeozoic time: links between climate, biogeography and evolutionary rates. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:519–528.Google Scholar
R Core Development Team. 2008. R: a language and environment for statistical computing, Version 2.6. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
Raymond, A. C., Kelley, P. H., and Lutken, C. B. 1990. Dead by degrees: articulate brachiopods, paleoclimate and the mid-Carboniferous extinction event. Palaios 5:111–123.Google Scholar
Saunders, W. B., and Ramsbottom, W. H. C. 1986. The mid-Carboniferous eustatic event. Geology 14:208–212.Google Scholar
Scotese, C. R. 2001. Atlas of earth history, Vol. 1. Paleogeography. PALEOMAP Project, Arlington, Tex.Google Scholar
Smith, B., and Wilson, J. B. 1996. A consumer's guide to evenness indices. Oikos 76:70–82.Google Scholar
Smith, L. B., and Read, J. F. 2000. Rapid onset of late Paleozoic glaciation on Gondwana: evidence from Upper Mississippian strata of the Midcontinent, United States. Geology 28:279–282.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R., and Rohlf, J. F. 1995. Biometry, 3d ed.W. H. Freeman, New York.Google Scholar
Srivastava, D. S. 1999. Using local-regional richness plots to test for species saturation: pitfalls and potentials. Journal of Animal Ecology 68:1–16.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M., and Powell, M. G. 2003. Depressed rates of origination and extinction during the late Paleozoic ice age: a new state for the global marine ecosystem. Geology 31:877–880.Google Scholar
Sutherland, P. K. 1988. Late Mississippian and Pennsylvanian depositional history in the Arkoma Basin area, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Geological Society of America Bulletin 100:1787–1802.Google Scholar
Sutherland, P. K., and Henry, T. W. 1977. Carbonate platform facies and new stratigraphic nomenclature of the Morrowan Series (lower and middle Pennsylvanian), northeastern Oklahoma. Geological Society of America Bulletin 88:425–440.Google Scholar
Sutherland, P. K., and Manger, W. L., eds. 1977. Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary in northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas. Oklahoma Geological Survey, Norman.Google Scholar
Veevers, J. J., and Powell, C. M. 1987. Late Paleozoic glacial episodes in Gondwanaland reflected in transgressive-regressive depositional sequences in Euramerica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 98:475–487.Google Scholar
Wagner, H. H., Wildi, O., and Ewald, K. C. 2000. Additive partitioning of plant species diversity in an agricultural mosaic landscape. Landscape Ecology 15:219–227.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1960. Vegetation of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon and California. Ecological Monographs 30:279–338.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1972. Evolution and measurement of species diversity. Taxon 21:213–251.Google Scholar
Willig, M. R., and Lyons, S. K. 1998. An analytical model of latitudinal gradients of species richness with an empirical test for marsupials and bats in the New World. Oikos 18:93–98.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. 1981. Similarity indexes, sample-size and diversity. Oecologia 50:296–302.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. 1983. Diversity, diversity indexes and tropical cockroaches. Oecologia 58:290–298.Google Scholar
Ziegler, A. M., Hulver, M. L., and Rowley, D. B. 1997. Permian world topography and climate. Pp. 111–146in Martini, I. P., ed. Late glacial and postglacial environmental changes: Quaternary, Carboniferous–Permian, Proterozoic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar