Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T03:03:35.056Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global Ordovician faunal transitions in the marine benthos: ultimate causes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Sean R. Connolly  and
Arnold I. Miller
Sean R. Connolly
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. E-mail: sean.connolly@jcu.edu.au
Arnold I. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Post Office Box 210013, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0013
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the Ordovician Radiation, domination of benthic marine communities shifted away from trilobites, toward articulated brachiopods, and, to a lesser degree, toward bivalves and gastropods. Here, models are formulated that mathematically represent alternative hypothesized causes of this transition. These include models in which per-genus origination or extinction probabilities were constrained to be (1) constant, (2) diversity-dependent, (3) productivity-dependent, or (4) jointly dependent on productivity and diversity. Using a method adapted from capture-mark-recapture (CMR) population studies, we estimate origination, extinction, and sampling probabilities jointly in order to avoid confounding patterns in turnover probabilities with temporal variation in the quality of the fossil record. Using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), we assessed the fit of the alternative causal models relative to one another, and relative to a noncausal “phenomenological” alternative that placed no constraints on the pattern of temporal variation in origination or extinction. There were differences among taxa in the relative fit of these models, suggesting that the effects of productivity and diversity varied among higher taxa. In the aggregate, however, there was strong support for diversity-dependent origination. For extinction, poor fit of the alternative causal models suggests that we lack a good explanation for extinction patterns. These analyses support the hypothesis that diversity-dependent origination, particularly in trilobites, contributed to the Ordovician faunal transitions. By contrast, the effects of increased productivity, if indeed they were large enough to influence global diversification patterns, did not proceed in the hypothesized manner.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , Winter 2002 , pp. 26 - 40
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

Alroy, J. 1996. Constant extinction, constrained diversification, and uncoordinated stasis in North American mammals. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 127:285–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alroy, J. 1998. Equilibrial diversity dynamics in North American mammals. Pp. 232–287in McKinney, M. L. and Drake, J. A., eds. Biodiversity dynamics: turnover of populations, taxa, and communities. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. R., and Burnham, K. P. 1994. AIC model selection in overdispersed capture-recapture data. Ecology 75:1780–1793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bambach, R. K. 1993. Seafood through time: changes in biomass, energetics, and productivity in the marine ecosystem. Paleobiology 19:372–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benton, M. J. 1995. Diversification and extinction in the history of life. Science 268:52–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burnham, K. P., and Anderson, D. R. 1998. Model selection and inference: an information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, S. R., and Miller, A. I. 2001a. Joint estimation of sampling and turnover rates from fossil databases: capture-mark-recapture methods revisited. Paleobiology 27:751–767.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, S. R., and Miller, A. I. 2001b. Global Ordovician faunal transitions in the marine benthos: proximate causes. Paleobiology 27:779–795.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erwin, D. H. 1993. The great Paleozoic crisis: life and death in the Permian. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Foote, M. 2000. Origination and extinction components of taxonomic diversity: general problems. In Erwin, D. H. and Wing, S. L., eds. Deep time: Paleobiology‘s perspective. Paleobiology 26(Suppl. to No. 4):74–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, A. B., Anderson, D. R., Gutiérrez, R. J., and Burnham, K. P. 2000. Climate, habitat quality, and fitness in Northern Spotted Owl populations in northwestern California. Ecological Monographs 70:539–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilinsky, N. L., and Bambach, R. K. 1987. Asymmetrical patterns of origination and extinction in higher taxa. Paleobiology 13:427–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S. J., and Calloway, C. B. 1980. Clams and brachiopods—ships that pass in the night. Paleobiology 6:383–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hargrove, J. W., and Borland, C. H. 1994. Pooled population parameter estimates from mark-recapture data. Biometrics 50:1129–1141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khain, V. E., and Seslavinsky, K. B. 1996. Historical geotectonics: palaeozoic. Translated byRao, P. M.Russian translations series, No. 115. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Lebreton, J.-D., Burnham, K. P., Clobert, J., and Anderson, D. R. 1992. Modeling survival and testing biological hypotheses using marked animals: a unified approach with case studies. Ecological Monographs 62:67–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurer, B. A. 1989. Diversity-dependent species dynamics: incorporating the effects of population-level processes on species dynamics. Paleobiology 15:133–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A. I. 1997a. Comparative diversification dynamics among paleocontinents during the Ordovician Radiation. Geobios 20:397–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A. I. 1997b. A new look at age and area: the geographic and environmental expansion of genera during the Ordovician Radiation. Paleobiology 23:410–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A. I. 1998. Biotic transitions in global marine diversity. Science 281:1157–1160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, A. I., and Connolly, S. R. 2001. Substrate affinities of higher taxa and the Ordovician Radiation. Paleobiology. Paleobiology 27:768–778.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A. I., and Foote, M. 1996. Calibrating the Ordovician Radiation of marine life: implications for Phanerozoic diversity trends. Paleobiology 22:304–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, A. I., and Mao, S. 1995. Association of orogenic activity with the Ordovician Radiation of marine life. Geology 23:305–308.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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
Miller, A. I., and Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1988. Modeling bivalve diversification: the effect of interaction on a macroevolutionary system. Paleobiology 14:364–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, J. D., and Pollock, K. H. 1983. Estimating taxonomic diversity, extinction rates, and speciation rates from fossil data using capture-recapture models. Paleobiology 9:150–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, J. D., Morris, R. W., Brownie, C., and Pollock, K. H. 1986. Sources of variation in extinction rates, turnover, and diversity of marine invertebrate families during the Paleozoic. Paleobiology 12:421–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novack-Gottshall, P. M. 1999. Comparative geographic and environmental diversity dynamics of gastropods and bivalves during the Ordovician radiation. . University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Patzkowsky, M. E., and Holland, S. M. 1993. Biotic response to a Middle Ordovician paleoceanographic event in eastern North America. Geology 21:619–622.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patzkowsky, M. E., and Holland, S. M. 1999. Biofacies replacement in a sequence stratigraphic framework: Middle and Upper Ordovician of the Nashville dome, Tennessee, USA. Palaios 14:301–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, K. H. 1982. A capture-recapture design robust to unequal probability of capture. Journal of Wildlife Management 46:757–760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, K. H., Nichols, J. D., Brownie, C., and Hines, J. E. 1990. Statistical inference for capture-recapture experiments. Wildlife Monographs 107:1–97.Google Scholar
Pradel, R. 1996. Utilization of capture-mark-recapture for the study of recruitment and population growth rate. Biometrics 52:703–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1975. Taxonomic diversity estimation using rarefaction. Paleobiology 1:333–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenzweig, M. L., and McCord, R. D. 1991. Incumbent replacement: evidence for long-term evolutionary progress. Paleobiology 17:202–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1979. A kinetic model of Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity. II. Early Phanerozoic families and multiple equilibria. Paleobiology 5:222–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1981. A factor-analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record. Paleobiology 7:36–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1984. A kinetic model of Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity. III. Post-Paleozoic families and mass extinctions. Paleobiology 10:246–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1991. Diversity in the Phanerozoic oceans: a partisan review. Pp. 210–236in Dudley, E. C., ed. The unity of evolutionary biology. Dioscorides, Portland.Google Scholar
Veizer, J., Ala, D., Azmy, K., Bruckschen, P., Buhl, D., Bruhn, F., Carden, G. A. F., Diener, A., Ebneth, S., Godderis, Y., Jasper, T., Korte, C., Pawellek, F., Podlaha, O. G., and Strauss, H. 1999. 87Sr/86Sr, δ13C and δ18O evolution of Phanerozoic seawater. Chemical Geology 161:59–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeij, G. J. 1995. Economics, volcanoes, and Phanerozoic revolutions. Paleobiology 21:125–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, T. D., and Valentine, J. W. 1984. Equilibrium models of evolutionary species diversity and the number of empty niches. American Naturalist 124:887–899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, G. C. 2000. MARK: mark and recapture survival rate estimation, Version 1.7.Google Scholar
Williams, B., Conroy, M., and Nichols, J.The analysis and management of animal populations. Academic Press, San Diego(in press).Google Scholar