Elsevier

Cretaceous Research

Volume 33, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages 21-41
Cretaceous Research

Adaptive morphologies and guild structure in a high-diversity bivalve fauna from an early Campanian rocky shore, Ivö Klack (Sweden)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2011.07.004Get rights and content

Abstract

The bivalve fauna from a late early Campanian rocky shore at Ivö Klack (southern Sweden), comprises just over sixty species, a very high diversity in comparison to other Late Cretaceous and modern rocky shore bivalve assemblages. This high diversity is here considered to represent a reliable census of the fauna; only in part can it be explained by the cumulative effect of generations of bivalves inhabiting this coastal environment. The high density and diversity and the wide range of shell morphologies allow interpretation of different modes of life in this variable environment with many contrasting habitats. Study of the functional morphology of bivalve shells and comparison with extant relatives has resulted in a subdivision of the fauna into seven guilds and five habitats. The bivalve fauna represents a within-habitat, time-averaged assemblage to which none of the species was introduced from adjacent environments. It includes some of the most northerly known, very small rudistid bivalves, in addition to the oldest known occurrences of Mytilus and Barbatia in association with rocky shores. Bivalves constituted the most important invertebrate group inhabiting the late early Campanian rocky shore at Ivö Klack, in terms of diversity, density and biomass.

Highlights

► A high-diversity rocky shore bivalve fauna comprising 61 species is described. ► Functional morphology studies of the shells result in a subdivision into seven Late Cretaceous guilds and five habitats. ► The fauna includes some of the most northerly known rudistid bivalves.

Introduction

Rocky shores provide many different habitats for the colonising fauna and are therefore often characterised by a high faunal density and diversity. Studies of ancient rocky shore faunas are few and far between, primarily because rocky shores are sites of erosion rather than of deposition, and the shelly fauna easily undergoes severe fragmentation in such high-energy settings. However, good examples of ancient rocky shores do exist, with the encrusting fauna well preserved (Surlyk and Christensen, 1974, Lescinsky et al., 1991, Johnson and McKerrow, 1995, Desrochers, 2006). A well-exposed late early Campanian rocky shore is preserved at Ivö Klack in southern Sweden; it yields an invertebrate fauna of both high density and diversity (Surlyk and Sørensen, 2010). A biological interpretation, comprising three zones, of the cementing epifauna has been mapped out on large gneiss boulders and hummocks (Surlyk and Christensen, 1974). The highest zone is dominated by the spondylid bivalve Spondylus labiatus (Wahlenberg, 1821), while in the next, lower, zone on the near-vertical sides of the boulders the oyster Amphidonte haliotoideum (J. Sowerby, 1813) and the inarticulate craniid brachiopod Ancistrocrania stobaei (Lundgren, 1885) are predominant. The lowermost, photonegative zone shows a predominance of serpulid species which occupy the overhanging lower portions of the boulders and hummocks (Sørensen and Surlyk, 2010). The commonly excellent preservation of this ancient rocky shore fauna offers an opportunity to increase the knowledge of faunal composition, life habits and nature of the ecosystem. Thus, the aim of the present paper is to interpret the mode of life of the bivalve assemblages, to compare these with other Late Cretaceous and modern rocky shores faunas and to subdivide the bivalves into guilds and preferred habitats in order to interpret their ecological role on the early Campanian rocky shore.

Section snippets

Geological setting

The Ivö Klack site is a disused kaolin quarry, on the island of Ivö in lake Ivösjön, in the northern part of the Kristianstad Basin in north-east Skåne, southern Sweden (Fig. 1). This basin was situated at a palaeolatitude of approximately 50°N in a warm-temperate to subtropical climate (Surlyk, 1997, Surlyk and Sørensen, 2010). Global sea level was in the order of 100 m higher than today (Kominz et al., 2008), and the basin was transgressed repeatedly from the south, resulting in the formation

Material and methods

A large portion of the material studied was collected in 1928–1929 by Alfred Rosenkrantz and in the early 1970s by Finn Surlyk and Walter Kegel Christensen; this is now housed at the Statens Naturhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen, with the prefix GMI (Geological Museum Ivö). The abundant, large-sized shells are well preserved, whereas juvenile specimens are almost absent, probably due to shell breakage and fragmentation in this turbulent environment. Bivalve shells are normally represented by

Results

The bivalve fauna from Ivö Klack comprises just over sixty species, in around 40 genera, and inclusive of four indeterminate forms which are briefly described below and listed in Table 1. Commonest are oysters; these make up c. 90 per cent of all bivalve shells recorded in the present study. The assemblages are subdivided into seven guilds, on the basis of tiering and postulated mode of life (Fig. 2; Table 1). It has not been possible to assign a single indeterminate form, GMI 2602 (Fig. 5K–L)

Discussion

The bivalves constitute the most diverse and abundant faunal group which inhabited the rocky shore at Ivö Klack, being represented by just over 60 species. This diversity is high in comparison with other Late Cretaceous rocky shore bivalve assemblages from Germany, the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Mexico (Table 3). The late Cenomanian – early Turonian fauna from the Czech Republic was studied with respect to cementing species found on boulders; fifteen taxa have been recorded (Nekvasilová

Conclusions

  • The rocky shore bivalve fauna from Ivö Klack is mainly well preserved and, with just over 60 species on record, it is more diverse than any other Cretaceous and modern rocky shore faunas described to date. The high diversity most likely is a genuine reflection of the fauna living along the shore at any time and can only in part be explained by the cumulative effect of generations of bivalves; taphonomic loss would probably have equalised this.

  • Seven guilds are recognised; 59 species are referred

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Danish National Research Council and the Carlsberg Foundation. Claus Heinberg is thanked for constructive comments on an early manuscript version.

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