We have investigated whether changes in marine faunal diversity during the Pleistocene would have been affected by changes in sea level. Our estimate of changes in area of shallow marine seas between low stand and high stand of sea level (approximately 200 m) leads to a prediction of approximately a 25% change in species diversity, 10% change in generic diversity and less than a 5% change in familial diversity. This agrees with the observation that large scale generic or familial changes have not been widely noted for the Pleistocene. As in other intervals of geologic time, changes in the sizes of faunal provinces owing to changes in sea level are less likely to be the significant factor in changing marine diversity than are changes in the number of faunal provinces.

Gould (1980) claims that a “new and general theory of evolution” is emerging. He examines the modern synthesis and asserts that it is being rejected by present day evolutionary biologists. The purpose of this note is to show that Gould's view of the modern synthesis is distorted. Any rejection of the modern synthesis must rest on a more balanced characterization than that presented by Gould.

Physical models of six species of the Mesozoic bivalve genera Gryphaea, Exogyra, and Ilymatogyra and hollow hemispheres of comparable size were manufactured, the former from molds of fossil specimens. The survival (maintenance of a position within 1 cm of the sediment-water interface) of populations of these models on 3 sediment types in the lower intertidal of the Gulf of Mexico was monitored over an 18 mo period. Bulk sediment density had no detectable influence on the mean mass density (g cm−3) of the population of models which maintained position at the sediment-water interface. Increased intensity of sediment reworking strongly decreased the probability of survival of the models. Model shells took up orientations consistent with previous laboratory studies and observations of fossils preserved in situ. Some of the models were attacked and broken open by blue crabs and stone crabs, and crab predation was an important source of “mortality” of the models. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased sediment reworking and the evolution of durophagous predators in the Cretaceous caused the extinction of exogyrid and gryphaeid bivalves and the near-total elimination of the reclining mode of life in post-Cretaceous times.

It has been suggested that certain fossil assemblages consisting of disarticulated and broken remains of small to medium-sized vertebrates (“microvertebrate concentrations”) may be accumulations of incompletely digested material defecated by crocodilians. Experiments on crocodilian digestion show, however, that these reptiles demineralize calcified tissues, frequently leaving intact organic matrices of dentine, cementum, and bones in their feces. Such matrices, even if preserved as fossils, would not resemble most specimens in microvertebrate concentrations. Therefore, crocodilian digestion does not appear to have been an important factor in the formation of these fossil assemblages. Teeth similar to those defecated by crocodilians nevertheless do occur in the fossil record. Such teeth, lacking enamel but often complete in other respects, are interpreted here as having been digested by crocodilians, defecated as demineralized organic matrices, and subsequently remineralized. Enamel, with its extremely low organic content, does not yield a demineralized matrix susceptible to remineralization. A number of recently recognized occurrences of enamel-less teeth attest to the significance of crocodilian digestion as a factor in the taphonomic history of many Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil vertebrate assemblages.

Living echinoids provide a structural analogue to the rigid thecae of many extinct echinoderms and are here used to examine some consequences of the increased rigidity and decreased number of plates which occurred in several lineages of echinoderms. A special feature of the echinoids is the large spines which protect the echinoid tests from failure under impact. The spines absorb energy or spread loads because the spines break or the tissue connecting the spine to the test is stretched or torn. Spines that absorb impacts might be superfluous in echinoderms encased in a rigid test or theca if they have flexible stems or are in low energy habitats, but spines should be useful to stemless thecate echinoderms on hard substrata. In the absence of spines, a flexible theca of overlapping plates might be superior to a rigid theca. Greater rigidity does not necessarily provide greater protection.

Tracts of podial pores are sites of weakness in all tests examined [Eucidaris tribuloides (Lamarck), Echinometra viridis Agassiz, Diadema antillarum Philippi, Lytechinus variegatus (Lamarck), Tripneustes ventricosus (Lamarck)]. Therefore arrangement of pores affects strength of rigid thecae. Sutures are stronger than plates in most species examined, but cracks cross sutures, and tests of E. tribuloides frequently break along sutures. It is not yet proven that sutures increase toughness of rigid tests by relieving stress on plates or stopping cracks. If resisting failure under impact is important, then preconditions for acquiring rigidity are life in a low energy habitat or accessory structures which absorb or spread impacts.

The correlation between epidermal cells and cuticular reticulation was clearly shown by transmission and scanning electron microscopes with larval ostracods just before ecdysis. Comparison of the reticulation patterns of Recent and Pleistocene specimens revealed that the epidermal cell arrangement of the adult ostracods is both consistent in the Recent population and conservative in phylogeny. Ontogenetic changes of the reticulation pattern were studied with specimens cultivated separately. Some gene control over the mitosis of epidermal cells was assumed, based on the ontogenetic development of the reticulation pattern. The pattern of fossil specimens suggests that the control has been well maintained in ostracod phylogeny.

The threespot damselfish, Eupomacentrus planifrons, is an algal-gardener and a major cause of biological disturbance on modern Caribbean coral reefs. The hermatypic coral Acropora cervicornis produces characteristic gall-like growths called “chimneys,” in response to damage by the threespot. Chimneys have been discovered on coral fragments excavated from the Jamaican Falmouth Formation, an Upper Pleistocene reef assemblage. This indicates that algal gardening, and thus biological disturbance, has been an integral aspect of Caribbean coral reefs since at least the last sea-level stand, some 125,000 yr BP.

As The Blob, of Steve McQueen's greatest triumph, so amply demonstrated, the more you encompass the more formless you become. Orzack accuses me of construing the modern synthesis too narrowly in describing a version championed only by Mayr and Fisher—a pair of unlikely bedfellows, I would have thought. Yet his version is so broad that he wins his own argument by internal definition, thus rendering it meaningless. As “the basis of the modern synthesis,” Orzack cites “the great evolutionary idea” — “all evolution can be explained in principle by an examination of the properties of individuals and of populations.” But what else is there, except perhaps Schindewolf's supernovae and Teilhard's ever-watchful Jesus, drawing organic activity towards Omega. If the synthesis only excludes some fringing finalists and unrepentant Lamarckians, then we are all inevitably in it, and we might as well recast the term as a synonym for evolution itself.

Because predation by drilling gastropods is uniquely preservable in the fossil record, it represents important evidence for the study of coevolution. Previous studies of drilling gastropod predation have been largely descriptive and sometimes contradictory. We formulate and test a model of prey selection by naticid drilling gastropods. The model adequately predicts both prey species selection and prey size selection. Prey preferences parallel prey profitabilities, determined by calculating prey species-specific and predator size-specific cost-benefit functions. The model also specifically suggests the evolution of potential refugia from predation and the evolution of potential predatory attributes. Application of the model to several Miocene and Pliocene assemblages studied by Thomas (1976) corroborates the feasibility and utility of this approach in examining the evolutionary record of naticid predation, which extends from the Late Mesozoic. Apparent evolutionary stasis and convergent morphological trends among prey species may be consistent with continuous selection pressures against predation.

The view that interspecific competition with balanoid barnacles has caused the evolutionary decline of chthamaloids (Stanley and Newman 1980), is challenged on 3 grounds. First, as a phyletic stock, chthamaloid size, as indicated by the mean adult basal diameter of extant taxa, has been decreasing, probably since the end of the Cretaceous. Small organisms will lose in interspecific competition to larger ones. However small body size reduces the susceptibility to predation and various forms of disturbance, and therefore allows chthamaloids to inhabit intertidal areas denied to balanoids. Second, although many species of Chthamalus occupy a high intertidal “refuge,” there is little evidence that competition is the primary ecological force maintaining them there. Predation is the most significant influence in tropical areas. In many temperate zone communities characterized by intense invertebrate predation or physical disturbance, chthamaloids achieve their maximum density lower in the intertidal than do balanoids or coronuloids. Last, the fossil evidence supporting a decline in chthamaloids is missing. The difficulty of seeking a single mechanism to explain global, multispecific phenomena is discussed.

A number of facts indicate that the diversity of chthamaloid barnacles is much lower now than it has been in the past. Among these are the relict, often disjunct geographic distributions of distinctive chthamaloid higher taxa and their representation by only a few living species. The living chthamaloid barnacles also have a disjunct bathymetric distribution: as we will document here in detail, they are concentrated in the intertidal zone and in deep water. In his rejoinder to our paper, Paine makes no cogent argument against our interpretations of this powerful evidence.

Our case that the balanoids have competitively displaced the more primitive chthamaloids is based on several facts: (1) the Chthamaloidea have dwindled during the Cenozoic Era, so that most have relict or refugial distributions, whereas the Balanoidea have undergone a remarkable adaptive radiation; (2) balanoid species are known to defeat chthamaloid species in competition for space; (3) the competitive success of the balanoids can be attributed to an inherent biological feature—a tubiferous skeleton, which fosters rapid growth; (4) the peak diversity of living balanoids coincides precisely with the bathymetric gap in the chthamaloids’ distribution.

We argue that the radiation of balanoids during the past 40 Myr or so has caused a decline in chthamaloid diversity by reducing and destabilizing low intertidal and shallow subtidal populations, thus elevating average rate of extinction and depressing average rate of speciation. This model allows for exceptions to the rule of balanoid competitive dominance, but contrary to Paine's claim, the exceptions that exist are either trivial or support our view.

Paine offers no alternative to our competition hypothesis. He suggests that an increase in predation has caused a decline in chthamaloid body size, but neither a Cenozoic trend in body size nor one in predation pressure has empirical support; furthermore, the body-size hypothesis has no direct bearing on the case we have presented.