The Earliest Post-Paleozoic Freshwater Bivalves Preserved in Coprolites from the Karoo Basin, South Africa

Background: Several clades of bivalve molluscs have invaded freshwaters at various times throughout Phanerozoic history. The most successful freshwater clade in the modern world is the Unionoida. Unionoids arose in the Triassic Period, sometime after the major extinction event at the End-Permian boundary and are now widely distributed across all continents except Antarctica. Until now, no freshwater bivalves of any kind were known to exist in the Early Triassic. Principal Findings: Here we report on a faunule of two small freshwater bivalve species preserved in vertebrate coprolites from the Olenekian (Lower Triassic) of the Burgersdorp Formation of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Positive identification of these bivalves is not possible due to the limited material. Nevertheless they do show similarities with Unionoida although they fall below the size range of extant unionoids. Phylogenetic analysis is not possible with such limited material and consequently the assignment remains somewhat speculative. Conclusions: Bivalve molluscs re-invaded freshwaters soon after the End-Permian extinction event, during the earliest part of the recovery phase during the Olenekian Stage of the Early Triassic. If the specimens do represent unionoids then these Early Triassic examples may be an example of the Lilliput effect. Since the oldest incontrovertible freshwater unionoids are also from sub-Saharan Africa, it is possible that this subcontinent hosted the initial freshwater radiation of the Unionoida. This find also demonstrates the importance of coprolites as microenvironments of exceptional preservation that contai

Mass extinctions drove increased global faunal cosmopolitanism on the supercontinent Pangaea

Mass extinctions have profoundly impacted the evolution of life through not only reducing taxonomic diversity but also reshaping ecosystems and biogeographic patterns. In particular, they are considered to have driven increased biogeographic cosmopolitanism, but quantitative tests of this hypothesis are rare and have not explicitly incorporated information on evolutionary relationships. Here we quantify faunal cosmopolitanism using a phylogenetic network approach for 891 terrestrial vertebrate species spanning the late Permian through Early Jurassic. This key interval witnessed the Permian–Triassic and Triassic–Jurassic mass extinctions, the onset of fragmentation of the supercontinent Pangaea, and the origins of dinosaurs and many modern vertebrate groups. Our results recover significant increases in global faunal cosmopolitanism following both mass extinctions, driven mainly by new, widespread taxa, leading to homogenous ‘disaster faunas’. Cosmopolitanism subsequently declines in post-recovery communities. These shared patterns in both biotic crises suggest that mass extinctions have predictable influences on animal distribution and may shed light on biodiversity loss in extant ecosystems

Vanishing Clams on an iberian beach: local consequences and global implication of accelerating loss of shells to tourism

Multi-decadal increase in shell removal by tourists, a process that may accelerate degradation of natural habitats, was quantified via two series of monthly surveys, conducted thirty years apart (1978-1981 and 2008-2010) in one small embayment on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Over the last three decades, the local tourist arrivals have increased almost three-fold (2.74), while the area has remained unaffected by urban encroachment and commercial fisheries. Concomitantly, abundance of mollusk shells along the shoreline decreased almost three-fold (2.62) and displayed a tight inverse correlation with tourist arrivals. A four-fold increase in tourist arrivals observed globally over the last 30 years has likely induced a comparable worldwide acceleration in shell removal from marine shorelines and exerted multiple negative (but currently unquantifiable) habitat changes that may include increased beach erosion, changes in carbon and calcium cycles, and decline in diversity and abundance of organisms dependent on shell availability

Marine Sclerobiofacies: Encrusting and Endolithic Communities on Shells Through Time and Space

The concept of sclerobiofacies is defined herein as suites of sclerobiont encrusters and endiont borers (collectively sclerobionts) preserved on skeletons that characterize particular facies/environments. Skeletal components provide biologically standardized substrates; when possible, comparison of encrusting assemblages on fossil shells of the same or closely related eurytopic species provides a degree of substrate control comparable to modern experimentally deployed shells. Taxonomic composition of sclerobiont suites varies rather predictably among marine environments (e.g., based upon depth) but is primarily useful for comparisons of environments within local areas and limited time frames. Parameters that may be used to compare sclerobiofacies across broader spatial and temporal dimensions include: per shell and cumulative species richness (diversity), frequency of encrustation, areal coverage, and guild structure of encrusting taxa. Herein, we summarize characteristic sclerobiofacies in a series of Recent and ancient examples. Modern subtropical marine encrusters, documented on experimentally deployed molluscan shells at sites ranging from 15 to over 200 m, show high biont richness in shallow subtidal areas. Maximal areal coverages in Bahamian samples occur at about 20–30 m, whereas species richness increases downward to the deeper euphotic zone (∼75–80 m). Below this level, rapid decline in both richness and percent coverage results in deeper Dysphotic–Aphotic zone samples yielding only a few species with coverage rarely exceeding 5%. Burial is also a key factor such that rapidly buried shells in the Shallow Euphotic zone have species coverages, richnesses, and taxonomic compositions resembling long-exposed shells in deeper areas below the euphotic zone. Shelly substrates from the Cambrian to Early Ordovician exhibit only minor encrustation by solitary attached taxa, especially echinoderms; however, by the Late Ordovician various solitary (e.g., cornulitids, craniid brachiopods) and colonial forms (e.g., trepostome and tubuliporate bryozoans) form distinctive sclerobiofacies. Photic zone-related environments, judged independently on the basis of microendoliths, show overall lower taxonomic richness than modern counterparts. However, they also show common patterns, including a general decrease of richness and percent encrustation from Shallow Euphotic to Dysphotic/Aphotic zones. Comparable trends are seen in Middle Devonian exemplars from New York State. Not only were there consistent trends toward lowered diversity/coverage into deep-water settings but also an additional factor related to turbidity and/or sedimentation rate was identified from assemblages at comparable depths arrayed along a distal to proximal gradient with respect to siliciclastic input sources. Carboniferous sclerobiont suites from varied sites in North America show many of the same traits as their Devonian counterparts, although detailed depth zonations are not documented at present. The Permo-Triassic extinctions appear to have had a strong impact on the taxonomic composition of marine sclerobiofacies, although a paucity of studies obscures details of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sclerobiofacies. In general, they appear to have taxonomic compositions and patterns similar to those observed in the Recent. The concept of sclerobiofacies provides another tool for paleoenvironmental analysis. Together with litho-, ichno-, bio-, and taphofacies, the properties of shell encrusting assemblages will yield detailed further insights into ancient environmental gradients

Boreal earliest Triassic biotas elucidate globally depauperate hard substrate communities after the end-Permian mass extinction

The end-Permian mass extinction constituted the most devastating biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic. Its aftermath was characterized by harsh marine conditions incorporating volcanically induced oceanic warming, widespread anoxia and acidification. Bio-productivity accordingly experienced marked fluctuations. In particular, low palaeolatitude hard substrate communities from shallow seas fringing Western Pangaea and the Tethyan Realm were extremely impoverished, being dominated by monogeneric colonies of filter-feeding microconchid tubeworms. Here we present the first equivalent field data for Boreal hard substrate assemblages from the earliest Triassic (Induan) of East Greenland. This region bordered a discrete bio-realm situated at mid-high palaeolatitude (> 30 degrees N). Nevertheless, hard substrate biotas were compositionally identical to those from elsewhere, with microconchids encrusting Claraia bivalves and algal buildups on the sea floor. Biostratigraphical correlation further shows that Boreal microconchids underwent progressive tube modification and unique taxic diversification concordant with changing habitats over time. We interpret this as a post-extinction recovery and adaptive radiation sequence that mirrored coeval subequatorial faunas, and thus confirms hard substrate ecosystem depletion as a hallmark of the earliest Triassic interval globally