Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:35:21.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Functional morphology and paleoecological implications of the platycrinitid column (Echinodermata, Crinoidea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

Steven W. Riddle
Steven W. Riddle*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Flume studies conducted on models and specimens of the helically twisted columns from Mississippian platycrinitid crinoids revealed two unique hydrodynamic interactions. Water is deflected up the column from levels near the sediment-water interface where food particles are more abundant. Turbulence, both in the lee and on the upstream side of the column, removes nutrient-poor water and replaces it with nutrient-rich water from near the sediment-water interface. Subsequently, the nutrient-rich water would have been filtered through the feeding apparatus of the crinoid. An upward deflection of as little as 10 percent bottom water would have resulted in a substantial increase in food particle load. Thus, the form of platycrinitid columns gave the crinoid a feeding advantage over otherwise similar crinoids of the same time period. The most diverse and abundant group of Mesozoic–Cenozoic stalked crinoids shows similar column modifications which suggests that the morphology may impart some competitive advantage to the organism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 63 , Issue 6 , November 1989 , pp. 889 - 897
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

Ausich, W. I. 1980. A model for niche differentiation in Lower Mississippian crinoid communities. Journal of Paleontology, 54:273–288.Google Scholar
Ausich, W. I. 1983. Component concept for the study of paleocommunities with an example from the Early Carboniferous of southern Indiana (U.S.A.). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 44:251–282.Google Scholar
Ausich, W. I., and Bottjer, D. J. 1985. Echinoderm role in the history of Phanerozoic tiering in suspension-feeding communities, p. 3–12. In Keegan, B. F. and O'Connor, B. D. S. (eds.), Echinodermata. A. A. Balkema, Boston.Google Scholar
Baumiller, T. M. 1986. Function of the anal tube in batocrinids. Abstracts of the Fourth North American Paleontological Convention, A4.Google Scholar
Breimer, A., and Webster, G. D. 1975. A further contribution to the paleobiology of fossil stalked crinoids. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van wentenschappen: Amsterdam. Proceedings, series B 78, 3:149–167.Google Scholar
Burdick, D. W., and Strimple, H. L. 1982. Genevievian and Chesterian crinoids of Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 121, 277 p.Google Scholar
Clark, A. H. 1912. The Crinoids of the Indian Ocean. Echinoderma of the Indian Museum. Pt. VII: Crinoidea. Calcutta, India, 325 p.Google Scholar
Clark, A. M. 1973. Some new taxa of Recent stalked Crinoidea. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology, 25:267–288.Google Scholar
Clark, A. M. 1977. Notes on deep-water Atlantic Crinoidea. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology, 31:159–186.Google Scholar
Donovan, S. K. 1986. Functional morphology of Myelodactylus and Herpetocrinus from the Silurian. Abstracts of the Fourth North American Paleontological Convention, A12.Google Scholar
Donovan, S. K. 1988. Functional morphology of synarthrial articulations in the crinoid stem. Lethaia, 21:169–176.Google Scholar
Eckert, J. D., and Brett, C. E. 1985. Taxonomy and paleoecology of the Silurian myelodactylid crinoid Crinobrachiatus brachiatus (Hall). Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences Contributions no. 141, 15 p.Google Scholar
Franzén-Bengtson, C. 1988. Morphology of myelodactylid columnals from the Silurian of Gotland, p. 797. In Burke, R. D., Mladenov, P. V., Lambert, P., and Parsley, R. L. (eds.), Echinoderm Biology. Proceedings of the Sixth International Echinoderm Conference, A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J., and Vrba, E. S. 1982. Exaptation—a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology, 8:4–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, A. S., and Waters, J. A. 1972. A Mississippian echinoderm site in Alabama. Journal of Paleontology, 46:660–665.Google Scholar
Kammer, T. W. 1984. Crinoids from the New Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian) in Kentucky and Indiana. Journal of Paleontology, 58:115–130.Google Scholar
Kammer, T. W. 1985a. Basinal and prodeltaic communities of the Early Carboniferous Borden Formation in northern Kentucky and southern Indiana. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 49:79–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kammer, T. W. 1985b. Aerosol filtration theory applied to Mississippian deltaic crinoids. Journal of Paleontology, 59:551–560.Google Scholar
Kammer, T. W., and Ausich, W. I. 1987. Aerosol suspension feeding and current velocities: distributional controls for Late Osagean crinoids. Paleobiology, 13:370–395.Google Scholar
Keim, J. D. 1978. Stratigraphic distribution, p. 371–401. In Moore, R. C. and Teichert, C. (eds.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. T, Echinodermata, Vol. 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Komar, P. D. 1976. Boundary layer flow under steady unidirectional currents, p. 91–106. In Stanley, D. J. and Swift, D. J. P. (eds.), Marine Sediment Transport and Environmental Management. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Lane, N. G. 1972. Synecology of Middle Mississippian (Carboniferous) crinoid communities in Indiana. Proceedings of the 24th International Geological Congress:89–94.Google Scholar
Lane, N. G., and Sevastopulo, G. D. 1987. Stratigraphic distribution of Mississippian camerate crinoid genera from North America and Europe. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 98:199–206.Google Scholar
Lane, N. G., and Webster, G. D. 1966. New Permian crinoid fauna from southern Nevada. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, Vol. 63, 87 p.Google Scholar
Meyer, D. L. 1982. Food and feeding mechanisms: Crinozoa, p. 25–42. In Jangoux, M. and Lawrence, J. M. (eds.), Echinoderm Nutrition. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Meyer, D. L., Messing, C. G., and Macurda, D. B. Jr. 1978. Zoogeography of tropical western Atlantic Crinoidea (Echinodermata). Bulletin of Marine Science, 28:412–446.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, H. W. 1978. Evolution of articulate crinoids, p. 302–316. In Moore, R. C. and Teichert, C. (eds.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. T, Echinodermata, Vol. 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Ubaghs, G. 1978. General features of the Crinoidea: skeletal morphology, p. T58–T217. In Moore, R. C. and Teichert, C. (eds.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. T, Echinodermata, Vol. 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Vogel, S., and LaBarbera, M. 1978. Simple flow tanks for research and teaching. BioScience, 28:638–643.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R., and Bambach, R. K. 1974. Feeding by benthic invertebrates: classification and terminology for paleoecological analysis. Lethaia, 7:67–78.Google Scholar
Waters, J. A., Broadhead, T. W., and Horowitz, A. S. 1982. The evolution of Pentremites (Blastoidea) and Carboniferous crinoid community succession, p. 133–138. In Lawrence, J. M. (ed.), Echinoderms. Proceedings of the International Conference, Tampa Bay, A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Welch, J. R. 1978. Flume study of simulated feeding and hydrodynamics of Paleozoic stalked crinoid. Paleobiology, 4:89–95.Google Scholar