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Models and simulations of time-averaging in terrestrial vertebrate accumulations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

A. K. Behrensmeyer  and
Ralph E. Chapman
A. K. Behrensmeyer
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, MRC NHB 121
Ralph E. Chapman
Affiliation:
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Intitution, Washington, DC 20560
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Extract

Plants and shelly marine invertebrates often have diverse and densely packed communities that generate dense accumulations of organic remains. In contrast, populations in vertebrate communities are relatively dispersed in life, and normal annual mortality results in a relatively low density of remains scattered over the land surface. This attritional “bone rain” differs from unusual circumstances such as mass mortality and predator bone-collecting, which can generate high density accumulations of vertebrate remains in a short period of time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 6: Taphonomic Approaches to Time Resolution in Fossil Assemblages , 1993 , pp. 125 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 Paleontological Society 

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