Is there a reliable taphonomic clock in the temperate North Atlantic? An example from a North Sea population of the mollusc Arctica islandica

Butler, Paul; Fraser, Nicole; Scourse, James; Richardson, Christopher A.; Bryant, Charlotte; Heinemeier, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109975

Cited by 6 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Protandry, the transition from male to female reproductive structures at later life stages, is common in many bivalve groups, e.g. pteriids (Chávez-Villalba et al, 2011;Serna-Gallo et al, 2014), pinnids (Camacho-Mondragón et al, 2015), crassostreid oysters (Powell et al, 2013;Yasuoka and Yusa, 2016) and cardiids (Yau et al, 2014), but unreported to our knowledge in the Venerida. Apropos of this case, Ropes et al (1984) identified that maturation data do not support a protandric life history in A. islandica.…”

Section: Dimorphismmentioning

confidence: 90%

Population dynamics ofArctica islandicaat Georges Bank (USA): an analysis of sex-based demographics

et al. 2021

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The ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, is a commercially important bivalve in the eastern USA but very little is known about the recruitment frequency and rebuilding capacity of this species. As the longest-living bivalve on Earth, A. islandica can achieve lifespans in excess of 200 y; however, age determinations are difficult to estimate and age variability at size is extreme. Objectives for this study included the creation of an extremely large age-composition dataset to constrain age at length variability, development of reliable age-length keys (ALK), and descriptions of sex-based population dynamics for the quasi-virgin A. islandica population at Georges Bank (GB) within the greater US Mid-Atlantic stock. Sexually dimorphic characteristics are clearly present, as females are larger than males within age classes and males tend to dominate the oldest age classes. A male represented the maximum age of 261 years and is older than the maximum age previously documented for this region. Sex-specific ALKs were robust and reliable but not interchangeable. This population had higher estimated natural mortality rates than presumed for other regions in the Mid-Atlantic, and females have the highest mortality rate. However, recruitment expansion was also occurring which would affect the age-frequency data used to derive mortality estimates and result in higher mortality. Age frequencies at GB suggest effective recruitment to the population each year since 1867 CE. Reduced recruitment periods are documented and likely attributed to fluctuating environmental conditions. Sex-based demographics are clearly divergent in regard to growth rate, maximum size, longevity and mortality rates.

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Section: Dimorphismmentioning

confidence: 90%

Population dynamics ofArctica islandicaat Georges Bank (USA): an analysis of sex-based demographics

et al. 2021

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“…Indeed, with additional collections, there is the distinct possibility that gaps in the chronology could be filled to yield a continuous millennial to 1,500‐year record. From the limited number of radiocarbon dates of randomly selected, undated shells, the minimum preservation is 3,000 years, but may be much greater considering that A. islandica that died more than 10,000 years BP have been retrieved from the North Atlantic seafloor (Butler et al., 2020). Given the abundance of geoduck along the NEP coast and typical average lifespan, chronologies of similar length could be developed from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Kodiak, Alaska.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The length (posterior to anterior), height (dorsal to ventral), width (shell margin to outer shell apex), and weight (mass in grams) of each valve was measured. We also used a subjective 5‐level classification system for recording the general states of bioerosion, shell margin deterioration, and periostracum of each shell as potential proxy measures of shell antiquity (Butler et al., 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multicentennial Proxy Record of Northeast Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures From the Annual Growth Increments of Panopea generosa

Edge

Reynolds

Wanamaker

et al. 2021

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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In terrestrial environments, tree-ring data are a critically important indicator of long-term climate and environmental variability, especially at mid latitudes. A distinguishing characteristic of tree-ring data amongst climate proxies is that they are well replicated, annually resolved, and absolutely dated through the process of crossdating, in which synchronous patterns induced by climate are matched among individuals of a given species and location (Douglass, 1941;Fritts, 1971;Glock & Pearson, 1937). By this method, growth irregularities such as false rings, micro-rings, or locally absent rings can be identified such that each increment in the data set is assigned its correct year of formation (Fritts, 1976). For live-collected samples, the year of collection anchors the absolute dating of the chronology. Where available, dead-collected material of unknown antiquity can be crossdated with one another and the live collected record. In doing so, chronologies can be generated that are much longer than the average individual lifespan for the species, in some cases spanning multiple millennia (e.g., Ferguson & Graybill, 1983;Pilcher et al., 1984). Such exact dating facilitates seamless integration of chronologies with one another and instrumental records (Briffa et al., 1996;Mann & Jones, 2003).Over the past two decades, this same crossdating technique has been applied to growth increments formed in the hard parts of marine organisms to reconstruct environmental variability prior to the start of instrumental records (Black et al., 2019). This approach has been especially successful with long-lived bivalves Arctica islandica and Glycymeris glycymeris in the North Atlantic, resulting in a network of continuous,

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“…Taphonomic factors (i.e. the condition of the shells) do not indicate for how long shells have been buried in sediment (Butler et al, 2020); instead, radiometric dating is the most common method used to identify whether shells were approximately coeval. However, radiometric dating requires additional resources and is age-limited, and might therefore not always be feasible.…”

Section: Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Holocene seasonal temperature variability of the western Scottish shelf (St Kilda) recorded in fossil shells of the bivalve Glycymeris glycymeris

Alexandroff

Butler

Hollyman

et al. 2021

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Is there a reliable taphonomic clock in the temperate North Atlantic? An example from a North Sea population of the mollusc Arctica islandica

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

Population dynamics ofArctica islandicaat Georges Bank (USA): an analysis of sex-based demographics

Population dynamics ofArctica islandicaat Georges Bank (USA): an analysis of sex-based demographics

A Multicentennial Proxy Record of Northeast Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures From the Annual Growth Increments of Panopea generosa

Late Holocene seasonal temperature variability of the western Scottish shelf (St Kilda) recorded in fossil shells of the bivalve Glycymeris glycymeris

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