Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T21:52:04.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Significance of Hierarchical Structure and Scale in Stratigraphy and Paleoecology: An Example from the Pliocene of North Carolina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Richard H. Bailey
Richard H. Bailey*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Get access

Extract

The study of paleoecologic processes through geologic time requires careful analysis of the stratigraphic distribution of fossils. Collections from stratigraphic units of varying thickness provide data needed to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of fossil species, populations, and paleocommunities. Obviously, collections that have broad stratigraphic spacing will reveal only long-term trends. Narrowing the stratigraphic distance between collections may reveal some aspects of shorter term biological processes, but it is well established (Gould, 1980; Schindel, 1980; McCall and Tevesz, 1983) that the lower limit of paleontologic resolution is reached when biological processes operate more quickly than the rate of formation of final undisturbed bedding units.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 5: Paleocommunity Temporal Dynamics: The Long-Term Development of Multispecies Assemblies , 1990 , pp. 236 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 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

Aigner, T. 1985. Dynamic stratigraphy of the upper Muschelkalk, south German basin, p. 342–346. In Bayer, U. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Sedimentary and Evolutionary Cycles. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R.R. 1977. Growth, morphology and ecology of Paleozoic and Mesozoic opportunistic species of brachiopods from Idaho-Utah. Journal of Paleontology, 51: 1133–1149.Google Scholar
Aller, R.C. 1982. Carbonate dissolution in nearshore terrigenous muds: the role of physical and biological reworking. Journal of Geology, 90: 79–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, R.H. 1987. Stratigraphy and depositional history of the Yorktown Formation in northeastern North Carolina. Southeastern Geology, 28: 1–19.Google Scholar
Bird, S.O. 1970. Shallow-marine and estuarine benthic molluscan communities from area of Beaufort, North Carolina. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 54: 1651–1676.Google Scholar
Bishop, G.A. 1986. Taphonomy of the North American decapods. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 6: 326–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, R.M. and Rollins, H.B. 1984. Correlation of Carboniferous strata using a hierarchy of transgressive-regressive units. Geology, 12: 471–474.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, R.M., and West, R.R. 1987. Hierarchal genetic stratigraphy: a framework for paleoceanography. Paleoceanography, 2:141–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabrese, A. 1969. Mulinia lateralis, molluscan fruit fly?. Proceedings of the National Shellfish Association, 59: 65–66.Google Scholar
Calabrese, A. 1970. Reproductive cycle of the coot clam Mulinia lateralis (Say), in Long Island Sound. The Veliger, 12:265–269.Google Scholar
Cerrato, R.M. 1980. Demographic analysis of bivalve populations, p. 417–465. In Rhoads, D.C. and Lutz, R.A. (eds.), Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, J.A. 1928. The molluscan fauna of the Alum Bluff Group of Florida, Part V. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 142 E. Google Scholar
Gould, S.J. 1980. The promise of paleobiology as a nomothetic, evolutionary discipline. Paleobiology, 6: 96–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A. 1972. Models involving population dynamics, p. 62–80. In Schopf, T.J.M. (ed.), Models in Paleobiology. Freeman, Cooper and Company, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D., and Lutz, R.A. 1980. Molluscan shell morphology: ecological and paleontological application, p. 323–377. In Rhoads, D.C. and Lutz, R.A. (eds.), Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kranz, P.M. 1974. The anastrophic burial of bivalves and its paleoecological significance. Journal of Geolgy, 82: 237–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinton, J.S. 1970. The paleoecological significance of opportunistic species. Lethaia, 3: 69–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinton, J.S., and Bambach, R.K. 1970. Some ecological aspects of bivalve mortality patterns. American Journal of Science, 268: 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, P.L. 1977. Community patterns and adaptive strategies of the infaunal benthos of Long Island Sound. Journal of Marine Research, 35: 221–266.Google Scholar
McCall, P.L. 1978. Spatial-temporal distributions of Long Island Sound infauna; the role of bottom disturbance in a nearshore marine habitat, p. 191–219. In Wiley, M. L. (ed.), Estuarine Interactions. Academic Press. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, P.L., and Tevesz, M.L. 1983. Soft-bottom succession and the fossil record, p. 157–194. In Tevesz, M.J.S. and McCall, P.L. (eds.), Biotic Interactions in Recent and Fossil Benthic Communities. Plenum Press New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K.B., Brett, C.E. and Parsons, K.M. 1988. The paleoecologic significance of storm-generated disturbance within a Middle Devonian muddy epiric sea. Palaios, 3:35–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, W. III. 1986. Paleoecology of benthic community replacement. Lethaia, 19: 225–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, W. III. and DuBar, J.R. 1988. Community replacement of a Pleistocene Crepidula biostrome. Lethaia, 21: 67–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neill, R.V., Deangelis, D.L., Waide, J.B. and Allen, T.F. 1986. A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. Monographs in Population Biology 23, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Parker, R.H. 1956. Macro-invertebrate assemblages as indicators of sedimentary environments in east Mississippi delta region. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 40:295–376.Google Scholar
Parker, R.H. 1960. Ecology and distributional patterns of marine macro-invertebrates, northern Gulf of Mexico, p. 203–337. In Shepard, F.P. and others (eds.). Recent Sediments Northwest Gulf of Mexico, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Project 51, Tulsa.Google Scholar
Pianka, E. 1970. On r- and K-selection. American Naturalist. 104:592–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoads, D.C., and Young, D.K. 1970. The influence of deposit-feeding organisms on sediment stability and community trophic structure. Journal of Marine Research, 28:150–177.Google Scholar
Richards, R.P., and Bambach, R.K., 1975. Population dynamics of some Paleozoic brachiopods and their paleoecological significance. Journal of Paleontology, 49:775–798.Google Scholar
Rollins, H.B., West, R.R., and Busch, R.M. (this volume). Hierarchical genetic stratigraphy and marine paleoecology.Google Scholar
Sanders, H.L. 1956. Oceanography of Long Island Sound, 1952–1954. X. The biology of marine bottom communities. Bulletin of Bingham Oceanographic Collection, 15: 345–414.Google Scholar
Schindel, D.E. 1980. Microstratigraphic sampling and the limits of paleontologic resolution. Paleobiology, 6:408–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, S.M. 1986. Anatomy of a regional mass extinction: Plio-Pleistocene decimation of the western Atlantic bivalve fauna. Palaios, 1: 17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thayer, C. 1975. Morphologic adaptations of benthic invertebrates to soft substrata. Journal of Marine Research, 33:177–189.Google Scholar
Vermeij, G.J. 1978. Biogeography and Adaptation: Patterns of Marine Life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vermeij, G.J. 1987. Evolution and Escalation. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Virstein, R.W. 1977. The importance of predation by crabs and fishes on benthic infauna in Chesapeake Bay. Ecology, 58: 1199–1217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, L.W., and Blackwelder, B.W. 1980. Stratigraphic revision of upper Miocene and lower Pliocene beds of the Chesapeake Group, Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1482-D.Google Scholar