How convergent are Lake Tanganyika’s gastropods to marine ones? Comparative ecology and adaptive morphology

Vermeij, Geerat J.

doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blz034

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Vermeij and Covich (1978) showed that antipredatory shell traits are most strongly expressed in gastropods and bivalves from ancient river systems such as the Mekong and Mississippi drainages and from relatively old lakes such as the Rift Lakes of East Africa and the Miocene and Pliocene lakes of central and eastern Europe. In these systems, which are both old and relatively large for freshwater environments, powerful endemic shell-breaking predators such as crabs and fishes have evolved as important selective agents for their molluscan prey (Vermeij, 2019). Without a historical perspective, contrasts between these old systems and more ephemeral freshwater ecosystems are difficult to interpret.…”

Section: Case Studies With Historical Dimensions Evolutionary Signatu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

History's legacy: Why future progress in ecology demands a view of the past

Estes

Vermeij

2022

Ecology

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History has profoundly affected the composition, distribution, and abundances of species in contemporary ecosystems. A full understanding of how ecosystems work and change must therefore take history into account. We offer four well-studied examples illustrating how a knowledge of history has strengthened interpretations of modern systems: the development of molluscan antipredatory defenses in relation to shell-breaking predators; the North Pacific kelp ecosystem with sea otters, smaller predators, sea urchins, and large herbivores; estuarine ecosystems affected by the decline in oysters and other suspension feeders; and the legacy of extinct large herbivores and frugivores in tropical American forests. Many current ecological problems would greatly benefit from a historical perspective. We highlight four of these: soil depletion and tree stunting in forests related to the disappearance of large consumers; the spread of anoxic dead zones in the ocean, which we argue could be mitigated by restoring predator and suspension-feeding guilds; ocean acidification, which would be alleviated by more nutrient recycling by consumers in the aerobic ecosystem; and the relation between species diversity and keystone predators, a foundational concept that is complicated by simplified trophic relationships in modern ecosystems.

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Section: Case Studies With Historical Dimensions Evolutionary Signatu...mentioning

confidence: 99%