Paleozoic to modern marine ecological shift displayed in the northern Adriatic Sea

One of the major changes in the history of life was the decline from abundant sedentary, suspension-feeding animals living on the seafloor during the Paleozoic to their relative scarcity afterward, while animal life within the sediment burgeoned after the end-Paleozoic extinction. In the northern Ad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2006-10, Vol.34 (10), p.881-884
Main Authors: McKinney, Frank K, Hageman, Steven J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adriatic Sea
behavior
benthic taxa
biogenic structures
biomass
bioturbation
Cenozoic
communities
East Mediterranean
ecology
ecosystems
Environmental geology
feeding
Geological time
Invertebrata
Marine ecology
marine environment
marine sediments
McMurdo Sound
Mediterranean Sea
Mesozoic
modern analogs
nutrients
Ocean bottom
paleo-oceanography
Paleoecology
Paleozoic
principal components analysis
Ross Sea
sedimentary structures
sediments
Southern Ocean
statistical analysis
Stratigraphy
trophic analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:One of the major changes in the history of life was the decline from abundant sedentary, suspension-feeding animals living on the seafloor during the Paleozoic to their relative scarcity afterward, while animal life within the sediment burgeoned after the end-Paleozoic extinction. In the northern Adriatic Sea there is a quantitative change from abundant exposed sedentary suspension feeders in eastern oligotrophic water to their virtual absence under western higher-nutrient waters, where prolific animal life occurs within sediments. This geographic gradient supports the hypothesis that an increase in neritic nutrients drove-and continues to drive-the Paleozoic to post-Paleozoic marine ecological transition.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G22707.1