Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:46:43.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life histories and population structure of Pennsylvanian brachiopods from north-central Texas as determined from size-frequency analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

A. S. Cate  and
I. Evans
A. S. Cate
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-5503
I. Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-5503
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Paleoecological analysis of three attached spiriferid species (Punctospirifer kentuckyensis, Crurithyris planoconvexa, and Hustedia mormoni) and six free-living chonetid brachiopod species (Chonetinella flemingi, Chonetinella verneuiliana, Lissochonetes geinitzianus, Mesolobus mesolobus, Neochonetes fragilis, and Quadrochonetes geronticus) from Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian strata of north-central Texas has been undertaken using, in part, population dynamics information derived initially from size-frequency distributions. The brachiopod populations in this study are believed to represent in situ assemblages formed by noncatastrophic mortality. Spiriferid species occurred in large populations characterized by positively skewed size-frequency distributions in which few individuals attained the maximum potential size reported for a given species. Chonetid species, in contrast, occurred in smaller numbers characterized by negatively to low positively skewed size-frequency distributions in which greater numbers of individuals attained maximum potential size.

The differences observed in the population structure of these two groups can best be explained as reflecting different adaptive lifestyle strategies that are shared at the ordinal level. Morphological features common to chonetid species enabled individuals to live freely at the sediment-water interface and perhaps reorient their position if disturbed. Based on size-frequency analysis, low-density populations of chonetids appear to produce relatively larger numbers of survivors in the adult and maximum size classes. Spiriferids were constrained to attachment surfaces occupied at the time of larval settlement, and individuals presumably had no mechanism to regain life position if overturned or if this surface became unstable. These physical limitations seem to be reflected in a population structure in which higher density populations were required to overcome the high mortality rates incurred by individuals. This appears to be a case in which size-frequency distributions have not been significantly altered by taphonomic overprint and in which size-frequency analysis can be used to detect differences in the life histories and population structure of brachiopod species.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 66 , Issue 6 , November 1992 , pp. 868 - 880
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

Adlis, D. S., Grossman, E. L., Yancey, T. E., and McLerran, R. D. 1989. Isotope stratigraphy and paleodepth changes of Pennsylvanian cyclical sedimentary deposits. Palaios, 3:487–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R. R. 1977a. Growth, morphology, and ecology of Paleozoic and Mesozoic opportunistic species of brachiopods from Idaho–Utah. Journal of Paleontology, 51:1133–1149.Google Scholar
Alexander, R. R. 1977b. Generic longevity of articulate brachiopods in relation to the mode of stabilization on the substrate. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, 21:209–226.Google Scholar
Alexander, R. R. 1984. Comparative hydrodynamic stability of brachiopod shells on current scoured arenaceous substrates. Lethaia, 17:17–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R. R. 1986a. Life orientation and post-mortem reorientation of Chesterian brachiopod shells by paleocurrents. Palaios, 1:303–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R. R. 1986b. Resistance to and repair of shell breakage induced by durophages in Late Ordovician brachiopods. Journal of Paleontology, 60:273–285.Google Scholar
Beus, S. S., and Lane, N. B. 1969. Middle Pennsylvanian fossils from Indian Springs, Nevada. Journal of Paleontology, 43:986–1000.Google Scholar
Boucot, A. J. 1953. Life and death assemblages among fossils. American Journal of Science, 251:25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boucot, A. J., Brace, W., and Demar, R. 1958. Distribution of brachiopod and pelecypod shells by currents. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 28:321–332.Google Scholar
Boucot, A. J., Johnson, J. G., Pitrat, C. W., and Staton, R. D. 1965. Spiriferida, p. H632–H728. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda 2. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Bromley, R. G., and Surlyk, F. 1973. Borings produced by brachiopod pedicles, fossil and Recent. Lethaia, 6:349–365.Google Scholar
Brown, L. F. 1962. A stratigraphic datum, Cisco Group (Upper Pennsylvanian Brazos and Trinity Valleys, north-central Texas. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations Number 46, 35 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, L. F. 1973. Cratonic basins: terrigenous clastic models, p. 10–30. In Brown, L. F. Jr., Cleaves, A. W. II, and Erxleben, A. W. (eds.), Pennsylvanian depositional systems in north-central Texas, a guide for interpreting terrigenous clastic facies in a cratonic basin. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Guidebook Number 14.Google Scholar
Brown, L. F., Cleaves, A. W. II, and Erxleben, A. W. (eds.). 1973. Pennsylvanian depositional systems in north-central Texas, a guide for interpreting terrigenous clastic facies in a cratonic basin. Guidebook Number 14, University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, 122 p.Google Scholar
Cadee, G. C. 1982. Low juvenile mortality in fossil brachiopods, some comments. Publ. Verslagen Nederlands Institut voor Onderzoek der Zee, 1982–83:1–29.Google Scholar
Cadee, G. C. 1988. Population dynamics in brachiopods. Lethaia, 15:65–66.Google Scholar
Carew, J. 1978. Faunal analysis of Permo-Carboniferous shales. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 308 p.Google Scholar
Cate, A. S. 1987. Population dynamics of selected species of Brachiopoda and Gastropoda from the Strawn, Canyon, and Cisco Groups (Upper Pennsylvanian) of north-central Texas. Unpubl. M.S. thesis, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, 376 p.Google Scholar
Cleaves, A. W. II. 1973. Depositional systems in the Upper Strawn Group of north-central Texas, p. 31–42. In Brown, L. F. Jr., Cleaves, A. W. II, and Erxleben, A. W. (eds.), Pennsylvanian depositional systems in north-central Texas, a guide for interpreting terrigenous clastic facies in a cratonic basin. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Guidebook Number 14.Google Scholar
Cleaves, A. W. II. 1975. Upper Desmoinean–lower Missourian depositional systems (Pennsylvanian) north-central Texas. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 256 p.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y., and Hallam, A. 1963. Size-frequency and growth ring analysis of Mytilus edulis and Cardium edule and their paleoecological significance. Palaeontology, 6:731–750.Google Scholar
Craig, G. Y., and Oertel, G. 1966. Deterministic models of living and fossil populations of animals. Quarterly Journal Geological Society of London, 122:315–355.Google Scholar
Cummins, H., Powell, E. N., Stanton, R. J. Jr., and Staff, G. 1986. The size-frequency distribution in palaeoecology: effects of taphonomic processes during formation of molluscan death assemblages in Texas Bays. Palaeontology, 29:495–518.Google Scholar
Curry, G. B. 1982. Ecology and population dynamics of the Recent brachiopod Terebratulina from Scotland. Palaeontology, 25:227–246.Google Scholar
Davies, D. J., Powell, E. N., and Stanton, R. J. Jr. 1989. Relative rates of shell dissolution and net sediment accumulation—a commentary: can shell beds form by the gradual accumulation of biogenic debris on the sea floor? Lethaia, 22:207–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deevey, E. S. Jr. 1947. Life tables for natural populations. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 22:283–314.Google Scholar
Dodd, J. R., and Stanton, R. J. 1981. Paleoecology, Concepts and Applications. John Wiley, New York, 559 p.Google Scholar
Doherty, P. J. 1979. Demographic study of a subtidal population of the New Zealand articulate brachiopod Teretratella inconspicua . Marine Biology, 52:331–342.Google Scholar
Dunbar, C. O., and Condra, G. E. 1932. Brachiopoda of the Pennsylvanian System in Nebraska. Nebraska Geological Survey, Bulletin 5, 377 p.Google Scholar
Elliot, D. K., and Bounds, S. D. 1987. Causes of damage to brachiopods from the Middle Pennsylvanian Naco Formation, central Arizona. Lethaia, 20:327–335.Google Scholar
Erxleben, A. W. 1974. Depositional systems in the Pennsylvanian Canyon Group of north-central Texas. Unpubl. M.S. thesis, University of Texas, Austin, 201 p.Google Scholar
Erxleben, A. W. 1975. Depositional systems in the Canyon Group (Pennsylvanian System), north-central Texas. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations Number 82, 76 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erxleben, A. W., and Cleaves, A. W. II. 1982. Cratonic facies models (Guidebook Roadlog) Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian System of north-central Texas, p. 1–48. In Cummings, David W. (ed.), Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian System of north-central Texas and West Texas (outcrop to subsurface). 1982 Symposium and Field Conference Guidebook, Permian Basin Section SEPM Publication 82-21.Google Scholar
Ferguson, L. 1962. Distortion of Crurithyris urei (Fleming) from the Visean rocks of Fife, Scotland, by compaction of the containing sediment. Journal of Paleontology, 36:115–119.Google Scholar
Galloway, W. E., and Brown, L. F. Jr. 1972. Depositional systems and shelf-slope relationships in Upper Pennsylvanian rocks, north-central Texas. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations Number 75, 63 p.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1972. Models involving population dynamics, p. 62–80. In Schopf, T. J. M. (ed.), Models in Paleobiology. Freeman, Cooper, and Company, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Harwood, R. J. 1980. Community reconstruction in benthic environments: trophic structure in living and dead macroinvertebrate associations, Corpus Christi and Aransas Bay systems, Texas. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Texas, Austin, 240 p.Google Scholar
Heuer, E. 1973. The paleoautecology of the megafauna of the Pennsylvanian Wolf Mountain Shale in the Possum Kingdom area, Palo Pinto County, Texas. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 736 p.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. B. C., Goreau, T. F., and Hartman, W. D. 1971. Recent brachiopod-coralline sponge communities and their paleoecological significance. Science, 173:623–625.Google Scholar
Kammer, T. W. 1985. Basinal and prodeltaic communities of the Early Carboniferous Borden Formation in northern Kentucky and southern Indiana (U.S.A.). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, 49:79–121.Google Scholar
King, R. H. 1938. New Chonetidae and Productidae from Pennsylvanian and Permian strata of north-central Texas. Journal of Paleontology, 12:257–279.Google Scholar
Lee, D. E. 1978. Aspects of the ecology and paleoecology of the brachiopod Notosaria nigricans (Sowerby). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 8:395–417.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S., and Bambach, R. K. 1970. Some ecological aspects of bivalve mortality patterns. American Journal of Science, 268:97–112.Google Scholar
Logan, A., and Noble, J. P. A. 1971. A Recent shallow-water brachiopod community from the Bay of Fundy. Maritime Sediments, 7:85–91.Google Scholar
MacLeod, N. 1980. The paleoecology of the Wolf Mountain Shale: community structure and trophic structure. Unpubl. M.S. thesis, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 202 p.Google Scholar
MacLeod, N. 1982. Upper Pennsylvanian peri-tidal benthic marine communities from the Wolf Mountain Formation (Canyon Group), north-central Texas, p. 167–178. In Cumming, David W. (ed.), Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian System of north-central Texas and West Texas (outcrop to subsurface). 1982 Symposium and Field Conference Guidebook, Permian Basin Section SEPM Publication 82-21.Google Scholar
Mancini, E. A. 1974. Origin of micromorph faunas—Grayson Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Texas. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, Texas A and M University, College Station, 255 p.Google Scholar
Mancini, E. A. 1978. Origin of micromorph faunas in the geological record. Journal of Paleontology, 52:311–322.Google Scholar
Muir-Wood, H. M. 1962. On the Morphology and Classification of the Brachiopod Suborder Chonetoidia. British Museum (Natural History), London, 132 p.Google Scholar
Muir-Wood, H. M. 1965. Chonetidina, p. H412–H439. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1934. Some Mid-Pennsylvanian invertebrates from Kansas and Oklahoma: I. Fusulinidae, Brachiopoda. Journal of Paleontology, 8:422–432.Google Scholar
Noble, J. P. A., and Logan, A. 1981. Size-frequency distributions and taphonomy of brachiopods: a recent model. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 36:87–105.Google Scholar
Norwood, J. C., and Pratten, H. 1855. Notice of the genus Chonetes, as found in the Western States and Territories with descriptions of eleven new species. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 3:23–31.Google Scholar
Paine, R. T. 1969. Growth and size distribution of the brachiopod Terebratalia transversa Sowerby. Science, 45:337–343.Google Scholar
Plummer, F. B., and Moore, R. C. 1921. Stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian formations of north-central Texas. University of Texas Bulletin 2132, 237 p.Google Scholar
Powell, E. N., Cummins, H., Stanton, R. J. Jr., and Staff, G. 1984. Estimation of the size of molluscan larval settlement using the death assemblage. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 18:367–384.Google Scholar
Powell, E. N., and Stanton, R. J. Jr. 1985. Estimating biomass and energy flow of molluscs in paleo-communities. Palaeontology, 28:1–34.Google Scholar
Powell, E. N., Stanton, R. J. Jr., Davies, D., and Logan, A. 1986. Effect of a large larval settlement and catastrophic mortality on the ecologic record of the community in the death assemblage. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 23:513–525.Google Scholar
Richards, R. P., and Bambach, R. K. 1975. Population dynamics of some Paleozoic brachiopods and their paleoecological significance. Journal of Paleontology, 49:775–798.Google Scholar
Rickwood, A. E. 1977. Age, growth, and shape of the intertidal brachiopod Waltonia inconspicua Sowerby, from New Zealand. American Zoologist, 17:63–73.Google Scholar
Rowett, C. L. 1982. Paleontology and stratigraphy of selected Pennsylvanian formations of north-central Texas, p. 229–276. In Cummings, David W. (ed.), Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian System of north-central Texas and West Texas (outcrop to subsurface). 1982 Symposium and Field Conference Guidebook, Permian Basin Section SEPM Publication 82-21.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1961. The anchorage of articulate brachiopods on soft substrata. Palaeontology, 4:475–476.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1965. Ecology and paleoecology, p. H199–H214. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1970. Living and Fossil Brachiopods. Hutchinson and Company, London, England, 199 p.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. S., and Wilk, M. B. 1965. An analysis of variance test for normality (complete samples). Biometrika, 52:591–611.Google Scholar
Shumard, B. G. 1855. Paleontology. Description of new species of organic remains. Annual Report Geological Survey of Missouri, 2:185–208.Google Scholar
Snyder, J., and Bretsky, P. W. 1971. Life habits of diminutive molluscs in the Maquaketa Formation (Upper Ordovician). American Journal of Science, 271:227–251.Google Scholar
Staff, G. M., Stanton, R. J. Jr., Powell, E. N., and Cummins, H. 1986. Time-averaging, taphonomy, and their impact on paleocommunity reconstruction: death assemblages in Texas Bays. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 97:428–443.Google Scholar
Stewart, I. R. 1981. Population structure of articulate brachiopod species from soft and hard substrates. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 8:197–207.Google Scholar
Sturgeon, M. T., and Hoare, R. D. 1968. Pennsylvanian brachiopods of Ohio. State of Ohio, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey Bulletin 63, 95 p.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F. 1972. Morphological adaptations and population structure of the Danish Chalk brachiopods (Maastrichtian, Upper Cretaceous). Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab Biologiske Skrifter, 19, 2:1–57.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F. 1974. Life habit, feeding mechanism and population structure of the Cretaceous brachiopod genus Aemula . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 15:185–203.Google Scholar
Sutherland, P. K., and Harlow, F. H. 1967. Late Pennsylvanian brachiopods from New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology, 41:1065–1089.Google Scholar
Thayer, C. W. 1975. Size-frequency and population structure of brachiopods. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 17:139–148.Google Scholar
Thayer, C. W. 1977. Recruitment, growth, and mortality of a living articulate brachiopod, with implications for the interpretation of survivorship curves. Paleobiology, 3:98–109.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W. 1973. Evolutionary Paleoecology of the Marine Biosphere. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 511 p.Google Scholar
Waagen, W. 1884. Salt Range fossils. Palaeontology Indica, Calcutta (13) Productus Limestone Fossils, I, Part 4, fasc. 4:611–728.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R., and Alberstadt, L. P. 1975. Ecological succession as an aspect of structure in fossil communities. Paleobiology, 1:238–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, K. R., and Parker, W. C. 1976. Population structure of a pioneer and a later stage species in an Ordovician ecological succession. Paleobiology, 2:191–201.Google Scholar
Williams, A., and Rowell, A. J. 1965. Brachiopod anatomy, p. H6–H57. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Witman, J. D., and Cooper, R. A. 1983. Disturbance and contrasting patterns of population structure in the brachiopod Terebratulina septentrionalis (Couthouy) from two subtidal habitats. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 73:57–79.Google Scholar