Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T07:56:25.982Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taxonomic Survivorship Curves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

R. Z. German
R. Z. German*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Taxonomic survivorship curves were derived from ecological and biomedical techniques for examining population structure and demographic trends. In simplest form, survivorship curves are graphical representations of the numbers or proportions of taxa that survive specific lengths of time. These curves provide a basis for calculating longevity, extinction rates, and other “life history” attributes of higher taxa. Survivorship curves have also been fruitful for comparative studies of contemporaneous higher taxa (e.g., cohorts), or among higher taxa that existed at different periods of geologic time. Various modifications of the concepts, both theoretical and methodological, have changed the way these curves are used to analyze paleontologic data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 4: Analytical Paleobiology , 1991 , pp. 175 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 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

Epstein, B. 1960a. Tests for the validity of the assumption that the underlying distribution of life is exponential. Part I. Technometrics, 2:83–101.Google Scholar
Epstein, B. 1960b. Tests for the validity of the assumption that the underlying distribution of life is exponential. Part II. Technometrics, 2:167–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foote, M. 1988. Survivorship analysis of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites. Paleobiology, 14:258–271.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1976. The Red Queen dethroned. Nature, 259:12–13.Google Scholar
McCune, A.R. 1982. On the fallacy of constant extinction rates. Evolution, 36:610–614.Google Scholar
Pease, C.M. 1988. Biases in the survivorship curves of fossil taxa. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 130:31–48.Google Scholar
Raup, D.M. 1975. Taxonomic survivorship curves and Van Valen's law. Paleobiology, 1:82–96.Google Scholar
Raup, D.M. 1978. Cohort Analysis of generic survivorship. Paleobiology, 4:1–15.Google Scholar
Raup, D.M. 1991. A kill curve for Phanerozoic marine species. Paleobiology, 17:37–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sepkoski, J.J. Jr. 1975. Stratigraphic biases in the analysis of taxonomic survivorship. Paleobiology, 1:343–355.Google Scholar
Siegel, A.F. 1988. Statistics and Data Analysis. John Wiley, New York, 523 p.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.G. 1944. Tempo and Mode in Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York, 237 p.Google Scholar
Stanley, S.M. 1979. Macroevolution: Pattern and Process. W.H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 332 p.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1973. A new evolutionary law. Evolutionary Theory, 1:1–30.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1976. The Red Queen lives. Nature, 260:575.Google Scholar