Titel
The taphonomic clock in fish otoliths
Autor*in
Quan Hua
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
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Abstract
Paleobiological and paleoecological interpretations rely on constraining the temporal resolution of the fossil record. The taphonomic clock, that is, a correlation between the alteration of skeletal material and its age, is an approach for quantifying time-averaging scales.We test the taphonomic clock hypothesis for marine demersal and pelagic fish otoliths from a 10–40m depth transect on the Mediterranean siliciclastic Israeli shelf by radiocarbon dating and taphonomic scoring. Otolith ages span the last ∼8000 yr, with considerable variation in median and range along the transect. Severely altered otoliths, contrary to pristine otoliths, are likely to be older than 1000 yr. For pelagic fish otoliths, at 30m depth, taphonomic degradation correlates positively with postmortem age. In contrast, no correlation occurs for demersal fishes at 10 and 30m depth, mostly because of the paucity of very young pristine (<150 yr) otoliths, possibly due to a drop in production over the last fewcenturies. Contrary to molluscan and brachiopod shells, young otoliths at these depths are little affected and do not showa broad spectrum of taphonomic damage, because those that derive from predation are excreted in calcium- and phosphate-rich feces forming an insoluble crystallic matrix that increases their preservation potential. At 40m depth, all dated otoliths are very young but rather damaged because of locally chemically aggressive sediments, thus showing no correlation between taphonomic grade and postmortem age. Our results show that local conditions and the target species population dynamics must be considered when testing the taphonomic clock hypothesis.
Stichwort
PaleontologyGeneral Agricultural and Biological SciencesEcologyEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1245744
Erschienen in
Titel
Paleobiology
ISSN
0094-8373
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Seitenanfang
1
Seitenende
17
Publication
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Fördergeber
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Verfügbarkeitsdatum
07.03.2022
Datum der Annahme zur Veröffentlichung
2021
Zugänglichkeit

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