The influence of environmental gradients on molluscan diversity, community structure, body size, and predation in a carbonate tidal creek, San Salvador (The Bahamas)

Clicks: 2
ID: 308594
2018
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #7,929 of 8,486 articles by views in american journal of science

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 8,486 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
The ecosystem at Pigeon Creek in San Salvador, the Bahamas, provides a unique opportunity for the analysis of complex modern biological processes and how they operate within spatial and chemical gradients in order to assess the stratigraphic scale of the incipient fossil record. This study considers the influence of environmental factors upon molluscan diversity, body size, and predator-prey interactions in order to assess the role that gradients may play at a single horizon. Samples were collected from 26 different localities within a carbonate intertidal creek, Pigeon Creek. Molluscan samples were identified to species level, measured for specimen length and width, presence of a drill hole, and drill diameter, and ordinated using canonical correspondence analyses (CCA). The CCA ordination determined salinity to be the strongest influence of environmental gradients measured for both gastropod and bivalve distributions. Our results show that both molluscan diversity and median body size decrease as salinity concentrations move from marine to elevated salinity conditions. Predatory drilling frequency is not significantly influenced by salinity; however, there is a strong correspondence between predator and prey body size at marine to intermediate salinities, a relationship which dissipates at elevated salinities. This study reinforces the idea that small scale local environmental gradients can strongly influence biotic communities and that spatial and environmental variation must be considered in order to properly interpret temporal trends in the fossil record, even at sub-parasequence scales.
Reference Key
openalex_W2796433383 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Tara Selly, Kelly Elizabeth Hale, James D. Schiffbauer, Daniel A. Clapp, John Warren Huntley
Journal american journal of science
Year 2018
DOI
10.2475/02.2018.03
URL
https://doi.org/10.2475/02.2018.03
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.