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Research Article| September 01, 2002 Time-averaged molluscan death assemblages: Palimpsests of richness, snapshots of abundance Susan M. Kidwell Susan M. Kidwell 1Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Susan M. Kidwell 1Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 14 Jan 2002 Revision Received: 07 May 2002 Accepted: 15 May 2002 First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (2002) 30 (9): 803–806. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2002)0302.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 14 Jan 2002 Revision Received: 07 May 2002 Accepted: 15 May 2002 First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Susan M. Kidwell; Time-averaged molluscan death assemblages: Palimpsests of richness, snapshots of abundance. Geology 2002;; 30 (9): 803–806. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2002)0302.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Field tests that compare living communities to associated dead remains are the primary means of estimating the reliability of biological information in the fossil record; such tests also provide insights into the dynamics of skeletal accumulation. Contrary to expectations, molluscan death assemblages capture a strong signal of living species' rank-order abundances. This finding, combined with independent evidence for exponential postmortem destruction of dead cohorts, argues that, although the species richness of a death assemblage may be a time-averaged palimpsest of the habitat (molluscan death assemblages contain, on average, ∼25% more species than any single census of the local live community, after sample-size standardization), species' relative-abundance data from the same assemblage probably constitute a much higher acuity record dominated by the most recent dead cohorts (e.g., from the past few hundred years or so, rather than the several thousand years recorded by the total assemblage and usually taken as the acuity of species-richness information). The pervasive excess species richness of molluscan death assemblages requires further analysis and modeling to discriminate among possible sources. However, time averaging alone cannot be responsible unless rare species (species with low rates of dead-shell production) are collectively more durable (have longer taphonomic half-lives) than abundant species. Species richness and abundance data thus appear to present fundamentally different taphonomic qualities for paleobiological analysis. Relative- abundance information is more snapshot-like and thus taphonomically more straightforward than expected, especially compared to the complex origins of dead-species richness. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.
Susan M. Kidwell (Tue,) studied this question.