TY - CONF T1 - Gastropod associations as a proxy for seagrass vegetation in a tropical carbonate setting (San Salvador, Bahamas) T2 - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Y1 - 2012 A1 - Sonja Reich AB -

Seagrass ecosystems play an important role in sedimentation processes and nutrient cycling and support local biodiversity by providing food and shelter for numerous associated organisms. These ecosystems have been around since the Late Cretaceous. In order to understand their emergence in geological time and their response to past perturbations we have to be able to recognize seagrass communities in the fossil record. However, seagrass itself hardly fossilizes and therefore we are searching for indirect indicators to recognize ancient seagrass vegetation. In this contribution we review molluscan evidence for palaeo-seagrass settings. Indicator species are rare since the majority of seagrass associated molluscs occurs in other marine habitats as well. Furthermore, those habitats appear to be patchy, both spatial and temporal, resulting in mixed occurrences of seagrass and non-seagrass faunas. Often only the high abundance of certain mollusc groups and the general taxonomic composition of a fauna points to seagrass environments. However, the distribution of gastropod trophic guilds in species richness versus abundance data appears to yield patterns that may be very characteristic for the identification of fossil seagrass associated faunas. We are currently applying Indirect PaleoSeagrass Indicators (IPSI’s) to a number of fossil and modern shelly samples, both from seagrass and non-seagrass environments. We also briefly review potential sedimentary and geochemical IPSI’s as well as fossil groups different than molluscs. Identifying seagrass environments enables us to assess diversity trends in such ecosystems through time and to study their response over time intervals with major environmental and climate change.

JF - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs CY - Charlotte, North Carolina. ER - TY - CONF T1 - Diversity, abundance and taphonomic patterns across bivalve dead assemblages associated with sea grass beds, San Salvador, the Bahamas T2 - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Y1 - 2012 A1 - B. Cecares A1 - Sonja Reich AB -

Seagrass ecosystems play an important role in sedimentation processes and nutrient cycling and support local biodiversity by providing food and shelter for numerous associated organisms. These ecosystems have been around since the Late Cretaceous. In order to understand their emergence in geological time and their response to past perturbations we have to be able to recognize seagrass communities in the fossil record. However, seagrass itself hardly fossilizes and therefore we are searching for indirect indicators to recognize ancient seagrass vegetation. In this contribution we review molluscan evidence for palaeo-seagrass settings. Indicator species are rare since the majority of seagrass associated molluscs occurs in other marine habitats as well. Furthermore, those habitats appear to be patchy, both spatial and temporal, resulting in mixed occurrences of seagrass and non-seagrass faunas. Often only the high abundance of certain mollusc groups and the general taxonomic composition of a fauna points to seagrass environments. However, the distribution of gastropod trophic guilds in species richness versus abundance data appears to yield patterns that may be very characteristic for the identification of fossil seagrass associated faunas. We are currently applying Indirect PaleoSeagrass Indicators (IPSI’s) to a number of fossil and modern shelly samples, both from seagrass and non-seagrass environments. We also briefly review potential sedimentary and geochemical IPSI’s as well as fossil groups different than molluscs. Identifying seagrass environments enables us to assess diversity trends in such ecosystems through time and to study their response over time intervals with major environmental and climate change.

JF - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs CY - Charlotte, North Carolina. ER - TY - CONF T1 - Diversity and palaeoecology of Miocene coral-associated molluscs from East Kalimantan T2 - SAGE2013: Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Y1 - 2013 A1 - Aires Kusworo A1 - Sonja Reich A1 - Frank P. Wesselingh A1 - Nadiezhda Santodomingo A1 - Willem Renema AB -

Currently, SE Asia is the global marine centre of diversity. High diversity is concentrated in and around reefs. A large variety of organisms, including corals and fish, but also molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms contribute to this high diversity. In order to understand the timing and the context of the origin of the modern biodiversity hotspot, the fossil record needs to be documented. However, reef facies often suffer strong diagenesis, compromising the fossil record of reef and reef-associated organisms. Here we present an assessment of a well-preserved Late Miocene mollusc fauna from Bontang (East Kalimantan, Indonesia). The fauna is found in association with branching corals, dominated by Dictyaraea. The mollusc fauna is dominated by predatory and browsing carnivorous snails and includes reefal indicators such as the gastropod Coralliophyla and the bivalve Tridacna. The new Bontang fauna gives a glimpse of the diversity and ecological composition of a Late Miocene mollusc fauna from a so-called coral-carpet environment.

JF - SAGE2013: Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution CY - Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin ER - TY - CONF T1 - Mollusks as seagrass indicators in the Miocene of Indonesia T2 - SAGE 2013: Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Y1 - 2013 A1 - Sonja Reich A1 - Frank P. Wesselingh A1 - Willem Renema A1 - Warter, Viola AB -

Today’s centre of maximum marine biodiversity is located in the Indo-Malayan region. Understanding the development of this biodiversity hotspot through the Cenozoic could answer numerous questions about the responses of highly diverse faunal associations to small and large scale environmental changes. When assessing marine biodiversity through time comparisons of taxon diversity are only meaningful when comparing faunas from similar habitats. To evaluate diversity through time within the same ecological setting, it is indispensable to reliably discriminate different habitats. A good example for the difficulties which may occur when identifying marine paleo-habitats is the challenge of recognizing seagrass vegetation in the fossil record. Due to the low preservation potential of marine angiosperms, indirect indicators, e.g. associated organisms with a higher potential for preservation, are commonly used to infer the presence of seagrass meadows in the geological past. Because of their high fossilization potential and their abundance in marine habitats mollusks yield the possibility to be useful paleo seagrass indicators. Here we assess the potential use of indicator species, species and feeding guild composition of whole assemblages, as well as stable isotope signals in shells for their suitability to determine seagrass vegetation in the Miocene of Indonesia.

JF - SAGE 2013: Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution CY - Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin ER - TY - CONF T1 - Mollusk faunas as indirect indicators for palaeo-seagrass vegetation T2 - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Y1 - 2012 A1 - Sonja Reich A1 - Frank P. Wesselingh A1 - Willem Renema AB -

Seagrass ecosystems play an important role in sedimentation processes and nutrient cycling and support local biodiversity by providing food and shelter for numerous associated organisms. These ecosystems have been around since the Late Cretaceous. In order to understand their emergence in geological time and their response to past perturbations we have to be able to recognize seagrass communities in the fossil record. However, seagrass itself hardly fossilizes and therefore we are searching for indirect indicators to recognize ancient seagrass vegetation. In this contribution we review molluscan evidence for palaeo-seagrass settings. Indicator species are rare since the majority of seagrass associated molluscs occurs in other marine habitats as well. Furthermore, those habitats appear to be patchy, both spatial and temporal, resulting in mixed occurrences of seagrass and non-seagrass faunas. Often only the high abundance of certain mollusc groups and the general taxonomic composition of a fauna points to seagrass environments. However, the distribution of gastropod trophic guilds in species richness versus abundance data appears to yield patterns that may be very characteristic for the identification of fossil seagrass associated faunas. We are currently applying Indirect PaleoSeagrass Indicators (IPSI’s) to a number of fossil and modern shelly samples, both from seagrass and non-seagrass environments. We also briefly review potential sedimentary and geochemical IPSI’s as well as fossil groups different than molluscs. Identifying seagrass environments enables us to assess diversity trends in such ecosystems through time and to study their response over time intervals with major environmental and climate change.

JF - Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs ER - TY - CONF T1 - Molluscs from underwater meadows - on the Miocene diversification of Indo-Pacific molluscan faunas associated to seagrass T2 - 18th Phd-Day Biodiversiteit Y1 - 2011 A1 - Sonja Reich A1 - Frank P. Wesselingh A1 - Willem Renema JF - 18th Phd-Day Biodiversiteit CY - NCB Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands ER - TY - CONF T1 - Reconstructing the origin of the Indo-Malayan marine biodiversity hotspot - First glimpses from the fossil record T2 - Annual Meeting of the Paleontological Society, Vienna, Austria Y1 - 2011 A1 - Sonja Reich A1 - Frank P. Wesselingh A1 - Willem Renema JF - Annual Meeting of the Paleontological Society, Vienna, Austria PB - Contributions to Paleontology CY - Vienna ER - TY - CONF T1 - Molluscs from underwater meadows - An Early Miocene seagrass mollusc community from Java, Indonesia T2 - Annual Meeting of the Paleontological Society, Vienna, Austria Y1 - 2011 A1 - Sonja Reich JF - Annual Meeting of the Paleontological Society, Vienna, Austria PB - Contributions to Paleontology CY - Vienna ER -