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Journal Article

How many marine invertebrate fossil species? A new approximation

01 May 1970-Journal of Paleontology (GeoScienceWorld)-Vol. 44, Iss: 3, pp 410-415
TL;DR: The total number estimated between 342,000 and 1,543,000 species, rise of species diversity, provincialization of marine biosphere due to continental drift and increased latitudinal temperature gradients, Phanerozoic
Abstract: Total number estimated between 342,000 and 1,543,000 species, rise of species diversity, provincialization of marine biosphere due to continental drift and increased latitudinal temperature gradients, Phanerozoic
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
22 Sep 1972-Science

523 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple estimate of the amount of marine sedimentary rock available for sampling is used to estimate the number of formations in the stratigraphic Lexicon of the United States Geological Survey.
Abstract: Many features of global diversity compilations have proven robust to continued sampling and taxonomic revision. Inherent biases in the stratigraphic record may nevertheless substantially affect estimates of global taxonomic diversity. Here we focus on short-term (epoch-level) changes in apparent diversity. We use a simple estimate of the amount of marine sedimentary rock available for sampling: the number of formations in the stratigraphic Lexicon of the United States Geological Survey. We find this to be positively correlated with two independent estimates of rock availability: global outcrop area derived from the Paleogeographic Atlas Project (University of Chicago) database, and percent continental flooding. Epoch-to-epoch changes in the number of formations are positively correlated with changes in sampled Phanerozoic marine diversity at the genus level. We agree with previous workers in finding evidence of a diversity-area effect that is substantially weaker than the effect of the amount of ...

325 citations


Cites background from "How many marine invertebrate fossil..."

  • ...A central question was whether diversity has increased or remained largely stationary since the Cambrian (e.g., Valentine 1970, 1973; Raup 1972, 1976a,b; Seilacher 1974; Gould 1975; Sepkoski 1976, 1978; Bambach 1977; Sepkoski et al. 1981)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The within-habitat data suggest that the number of marine invertebrate species in the world has increased since the Middle Paleozoic, but possibly only by about 4 times, not the order of magnitude or more suggested by Valentine (1970).
Abstract: The distribution of numbers of species and the median number of species from 386 selected fossil communities are tabulated for high stress, variable nearshore, and open marine environments during the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. The number of species always increases from high stress to variable nearshore to open marine environments. Within-habitat variation in number of species is small for long intervals of the Phanerozoic. The median number of species in communities from high stress environments remains fixed at about 8 from the Cambrian to the Pleistocene. In open marine environments, the median is near 30 for the Middle and Upper Paleozoic and almost the same for the Mesozoic. Increases of 50% in median number of species between the Lower and Middle Paleozoic and 2 times between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic occur in open marine en- vironments with parallel, but less pronounced, increases in variable nearshore environments. Conditions controlling overall within-habitat species richness changed at those times. These changes do not correlate directly with evolution of new major taxa, change in physical con- ditions, predation, space availability or oxygen supply. They may be related to changes in resource availability influenced by factors such as the developing terrestrial flora, to lag-time inherent in the evolutionary process of diversification, or to as yet undetermined factors. Al- though provinciality determines total species richness for the biosphere, the within-habitat data suggest that the number of marine invertebrate species in the world has increased since the Middle Paleozoic, contrary to Raup's (1976b) contention, but possibly only by about 4 times, not the order of magnitude or more suggested by Valentine (1970).

291 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The higher estimates of completeness at smaller geographic scales support previous suggestions that the incompleteness of the fossil record reflects loss of fossiliferous rock more than failure of species to enter the fossilrecord in the first place.
Abstract: The incompleteness of the fossil record hinders the inference of evolutionary rates and patterns. Here, we derive relationships among true taxonomic durations, preservation probability, and observed taxonomic ranges. We use these relationships to estimate original distributions of taxonomic durations, preservation probability, and completeness (proportion of taxa preserved), given only the observed ranges. No data on occurrences within the ranges of taxa are required. When preservation is random and the original distribution of durations is exponential, the inference of durations, preservability, and completeness is exact. However, reasonable approximations are possible given non-exponential duration distributions and temporal and taxonomic variation in preservability. Thus, the approaches we describe have great potential in studies of taphonomy, evolutionary rates and patterns, and genealogy. Analyses of Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician trilobite species, Paleozoic crinoid genera, Jurassic bivalve species, and Cenozoic mammal species yield the following results: (1) The preservation probability inferred from stratigraphic ranges alone agrees with that inferred from the analysis of stratigraphic gaps when data on the latter are available. (2) Whereas median durations based on simple tabulations of observed ranges are biased by stratigraphic resolution, our estimates of median duration, extinction rate, and completeness are not biased.(3) The shorter geologic ranges of mammalian species relative to those of bivalves cannot be attributed to a difference in preservation potential. However, we cannot rule out the contribution of taxonomic practice to this difference. (4) In the groups studied, completeness (proportion of species [trilobites, bivalves, mammals] or genera [crinoids] preserved) ranges from 60% to 90%. The higher estimates of completeness at smaller geographic scales support previous suggestions that the incompleteness of the fossil record reflects loss of fossiliferous rock more than failure of species to enter the fossil record in the first place.

249 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 1950
TL;DR: Treatise on invertebrate paleontology as mentioned in this paper, a Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology and its relationship with invertebrates, is the most relevant work to ours.
Abstract: Treatise on invertebrate paleontology , Treatise on invertebrate paleontology , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

3,805 citations

Book
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: The science of taxonomy the species category species taxa intrapopulational variational variation and the comparison of population samples specification and taxonomic decisions the theory of classification taxonomic characters phenetics evolutionary classification numerical methods taxonomic collections and identification taxonomic collection and identificationTaxonomic publications principles of zoological nomenclature
Abstract: The science of taxonomy the species category species taxa intrapopulational variational variation and the comparison of population samples specification and taxonomic decisions the theory of classification taxonomic characters phenetics cladistics evolutionary classification numerical methods taxonomic collections and identification taxonomic collections and identification taxonomic publications principles of zoological nomenclature

2,082 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the development of competition theory, which has traditionally included three stages: inferences drawn from observation of natural populations, construction of mathematical models, and laboratory experiments designed to test elements of competitive interactions in controlled environments.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the development of competition theory, which has traditionally included three stages: inferences drawn from observation of natural populations, construction of mathematical models, and laboratory experiments designed to test elements of competitive interactions in controlled environments. Interference to any activity either directly or indirectly limits a competitor's access to a necessary resource or requirement. Different types of evidence are assigned for competition in nature. Principal categories are mutually exclusive spatial distributions without supporting evidence of a competitive interaction, observed or inferred ecological displacement in sympatric populations, and induced changes in distribution pattern. A considerable amount of ambiguity exists in interpretations of the results of interspecies competition. It is necessary to distinguish between maximum exploitation of the available resources by one species, and equitable utilization of the resources and possible coexistence in a mixed species system. The chapter suggests two major sources of species diversity. When competition is primarily through exploitation and the system is under strong environmental control, it is likely that fluctuations in factors affecting reproduction and survival will continually alter the outcome of the competitive interaction, allowing coexistence of mixed species populations.

562 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the diversity in the deep-sea benthos is not an artifact of sampling procedure and demonstrates that the deep seafloor is not faunally depauperate, as commonly believed.

489 citations


"How many marine invertebrate fossil..." refers background in this paper

  • ...much more diverse than formerly demonstrated, even for skeletonized forms (Hessler and Sanders, 1967; Sanders and Hessler, 1969)....

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