Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-fmk2r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-22T16:07:07.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the expected distribution of species' ranges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Carl F. Koch  and
John P. Morgan
Carl F. Koch
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529
John P. Morgan
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A method is provided to calculate the expected distribution of species' ranges for use as a basis of comparison for paleontological interpretation of species' range charts. If the method is used for such studies, the possibility of suggesting an environmental or biological cause for observed patterns, when in fact no such cause exists, will be diminished. The method is applied to a large, well-studied fossil data set to illustrate some possible species' range patterns which result only from sample size inequities. As examples, stepwise extinction and species richness patterns are predicted for situations where, in reality, none exist.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Spring 1988 , pp. 126 - 138
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

Buzas, M. A., Koch, C. F., Culver, S. J., and Sohl, N. F.. 1982. On the distribution of species occurrence. Paleobiology 8: 142–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A., Corbet, A. S., and Williams, C. B.. 1943. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. Journal of Animal Ecology 12: 42–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1980. Apparent versus real biotic effects of transgressions and regressions. Paleobiology 6: 397–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1975. Dispersal and biostratigraphic potential of Cretaceous benthonic Bivalvia in the Western Interior. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 13: 163–194.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1984. The fabric of Cretaceous marine extinctions. Pp. 151–246. In Berggren, W. A. and Van Couvering, J. A. (eds.), Catastrophies and Earth History. Princeton University Press; Princeton.Google Scholar
Koch, C. F. 1977. Evolutionary and ecological patterns of Upper Cenomanian (Cretaceous) mollusc distribution in the Western Interior of North America. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, George Washington University. 72 pp.Google Scholar
Koch, C. F. 1987. Prediction of sample size effects on the measured temporal and geographic distribution patterns of species. Paleobiology 13: 100–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, C. F. and Sohl, N. F.. 1983a. Preservational effects in paleoecological studies: Cretaceous mollusc examples. Paleobiology 9: 26–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, C. F. and Sohl, N. F.. 1983b. Effects of substrate on taxon occurrence frequency: Upper Cretaceous molluscs. Geological Society of America Abstracts 15: 616.Google Scholar
Koch, C. F. and Sohl, N. F.. 1986. Biogeographic range of the more abundant molluscan species from Uppermost Cretaceous strata: U.S. Coastal Plain. Geological Society of America Abstracts 18: 660.Google Scholar
Koch, C. F. and Sohl, N. F.. In press. Distributional patterns of Maastrichtian mollusc species in the United States Coastal Province. Proceedings of the IX Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologica, Fortaleza, Brazil, September 1985.Google Scholar
Myers, R. L. 1968. Biostratigraphy of the Cardenas Formation (Upper Cretaceous) San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonma de Mexico, Instituto de Geologica, Paleontologia Mexicana 24: 1–89.Google Scholar
Preston, F. W. 1962. The canonical distribution of commonness and rarity (two parts). Ecology 43: 185–215, 410–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohatgi, V. K. 1976. An Introduction to Probability and Mathematical Statistics. J. Wiley; New York. 684 pp.Google Scholar
Signor, P. W. and Lipps, J. H.. 1982. Sampling bias, gradual extinction patterns and catastrophies in the fossil record. Geological Society of America Special Paper 19: 291–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sohl, N. F. 1977. Utility of gastropods in biostratigraphy. Pp. 519–539. In Kauffman, E. G. and Hazel, J. E. (eds.), Concepts and Methods of Biostratigraphy. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Incorporated; Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Sohl, N. F. and Koch, C. F.. 1983. Upper Cretaceous (Maestrichtian) Mollusca from the Haustator bilira Assemblage Zone in the East Gulf Coastal Plain. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 83–451. 330 pp.Google Scholar
Sohl, N. F. and Koch, C. F.. 1984. Upper Cretaceous (Maestrichtian) Larger Invertebrates from the Haustator bilira Assemblage Zone in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 84–687. 271 pp.Google Scholar
Sohl, N. F. and Koch, C. F.. 1986. Molluscan biostratigraphy and biofacies of the Haustator bilira Assemblage Zone (Maestrichtian) of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. Pp. 45–56. In Reinhardt, J. (ed.), Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of Continental Near Shore and Marine Cretaceous Sediments of the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain, Field Trip No. 3. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, June 18–20, 1986.Google Scholar
Sohl, N. F. and Koch, C. F.. 1987. Upper Cretaceous (Maestrichtian) Larger Invertebrates from the Haustator bilira Assemblage Zone in the Atlantic Coastal Plain with Further Data from the East Gulf. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 87–194. 172 pp.Google Scholar
Wollenben, J. A. 1977. Paleontology of the Difunta Group (Upper Cretaceous-Tertiary) in Northern Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 51: 373–398.Google Scholar