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Coralligenous bioconstructions are biogenic calcareous formations developing at low irradiance on littoral rocky cliffs or on the deeper sub-horizontal bottom in the Mediterranean Sea. Unusually shallow coralligenous banks on the sandy coast of Sinuessa (Mondragone City, Gulf of Gaeta, SW Italy) were investigated. Their communities and the surrounding biogenic detritus were characterized. Geophysical and acoustic data revealed the presence of coralligenous banks between 7.5 and 15 m depth, showing constant thickness and sub-horizontal geometry, incised by sub-perpendicular channels. Sediment deposits ranging from silty sands to bioclastic gravel occur in the area. The biogenic detritus of the soft bottom sampled around the coralligenous banks is highly heterogeneous. Through the thanatocoenosis analysis of macrozoobenthos, different biocenoses were detected, among which the coralligenous and photophilic habitats are mainly represented, followed by the well-calibrated fine sands and the relit sands. A total of 16 different species and 10 epimegabenthic morphological groups (MGs) were detected on the coralligenous banks, of which 4 are included in European regulation for threatened species. The density of epimegabenthic organisms has an average of 10.34 ± 5.46 individuals or colonies/100 m2. Cladocora caespitosa is the dominant species, with a height of 17 ± 5 cm. This and other structuring species (SS) were larger in size in the sampled sites than in the literature data. Overall, coralligenous had a "medium" health status, with 52% of the individuals or colonies in healthy conditions, compared to 47% with epibiosis phenomena and 1% with entanglement. Longlines were the most common anthropogenic litter, with a density of 2/100 m2. Ad hoc monitoring programs and conservation measures would be desirable to protect and guarantee the well-being of these sensitive and rare shallow bioconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Antique (ca. 450 CE) infant cemetery uncovered at Poggio Gramignano near Lugnano in Teverina (Italy) has been interpreted as a catastrophic death assemblage associated with an acute epidemic of Plasmodium falciparum malaria and a resulting episode of increased infant mortality. Previous research has noted the unique mortuary ritual associated with these burials but has not adequately considered the social implications of the nonnormative burial of the infant and even fetal dead. This paper considers 10 newly uncovered burials of infants and one child from the cemetery, analyzed in situ using an archaeothanatological approach to separate postdepositional taphonomic change from the social and ritual dimensions of intentional funerary behavior. The mortuary treatment provided to these individuals suggests a possible fear of the dead, and more significantly, maternal grief and a desire for remembrance that contrasts with Roman cultural expectations surrounding the mourning of infants. The treatment of these individuals in death provides valuable and specific insight into the attitudes of this rural community's shared stress surrounding unexplained illness, infant death, and traditional beliefs in an era of significant cultural and social transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of zooarchaeology's quantitative units known as NISP (number of identified specimens) and MNI (minimum number of individuals) during the last three decades of the twentieth century suggested neither provided ratio scale measures of taxonomic abundances. Many researchers at that time began to use NISP as often as MNI to measure taxonomic abundances. In part because of a desire to determine the composition of human diet more precisely, and in light of the fact that different taxa have different numbers of identifiable bones, four zooarchaeologists have, since 1990, used assemblages with known ANI (actual number of individuals) to evaluate whether NISP or MNI provides the most accurate measure of ANI. ANI data from ethnoarchaeological and historical contexts suggest taxonomic abundance data quantified as NISP or MNI are ordinal scale at best, something previously shown to be highly probable. Experimental data used to evaluate the accuracy of NISP and MNI as measures of ANI are either inappropriate or not designed to assess which quantitative unit produces the most accurate measure. A new quantitative unit proposed as an alternative to MNE (minimum number of [skeletal] elements)—the NDE (number of distinct elements)—is said to provide proportional abundances of taxa but demonstrably undercounts skeletal parts and fails to provide ratio scale abundance data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living (LAs) and death assemblages (DAs) from the same samples (sites) can be compared based on total densities, species densities, species richness and heterogeneity (evenness). Preferably densities (standing crop), obtained by normalization of absolute frequencies to unit sample size, should be used to compare samples, especially for LAs. Combinations of the above four characteristics enable a better insight into the relations between LAs and DAs. The 'IncorporationValue'weighs the proportions of living individuals on total individual numberswith similarities in species composition between both assemblages, yielding the instantaneous integration grade of living individuals into the death assemblage. Diversity diagrams based on species richness (abscissa) and heterogeneities (ordinate), standardized over all investigated samples, simultaneously characterize differences in diversities. The standardized vector between LA and DA in the above-mentioned coordinate system characterizes differences in species richness and heterogeneity in a combinedmanner, where all coefficients of species richness and heterogeneities can be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree to which a group of fossils reflects the original community from which it was derived can be estimated by comparing living communities with locally accumulated dead remains. Such live–dead approaches (LA/DA) can provide important baseline information on the ecological structure of ancient freshwater systems. This study explored variations in composition, richness, evenness and rank-abundance in live and dead mollusk assemblages recovered from the Ibicuí River Basin, southern Brazil. LA/DA was related to topography, river size, and sediment grain size, separated respectively into plain (altitude 0–100 m) versus slope (100–500 m), small versus medium-large stream orders, and gravel versus sand substrate. Positive correlation between LA and DA species composition was significant only in large rivers. Slope areas showed LA/DA species compositions that were significantly different, whereas the communities from sand and gravel substrates were quite similar. Important factors that affected live/dead similarity in the study area included (1) destruction of thin, fragile shells of dead animals by acidic waters that are common in the region, (2) downstream drift of small spherical shells from species common in slope areas, such as Potamolithus sp., and (3) high abundances of invasive species in the local death assemblage, especially in large rivers. High fidelity in large rivers is caused by the presence of favorable habitats for bivalve communities. Coarse sediments are an important driver of macro invertebrate diversity, acting as shell traps that slow the downstream drift of bivalve remains and improve the preservation of fluvial mollusks. The preservation potential of dead assemblages of the Ibicuí River showed that fossil assemblages are useful tools for recognizing ancient riverscapes, such as flat areas with sandy substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative micropaleontological analyses are carried out on eleven samples from inner neritic to outer neritic sands of the sicilian coast, north of Messina. Three groups are described: 1) fossil taxa, mainly from Pliocene sediments in the terrigenous discharges, 2) live and 3) dead specimens of recent species. The distribution of benthic specimens seems largely controlled by the amounts and the sites of terrigenous sediments deposition and by the patchiness of algal biocoenoses. Percentages of live forms are higher in the northern samples, less affected by reworked or winnowed sediments: sessile foraminifers (Glabratellidae, Discorbidae) are dominant. On the contrary, dead specimens of miliolids, elphidiids, rare rotaliids ecc. are common in the thanatocoenoses of the southern and deeper samples.

The results of a detailed morphological and pathological study on reindeer bones ( Rangifer tarandus) from four medieval hunting stations on Hardangervidda are presented. As intensive marrow collecting left almost no bones intact, traditional sexing methods could only sparsely be applied. Alternative methods had to be explored to successfully assign the fragments to a sex. Employing linear discriminant analysis ( LDA) on early- and non-fusing skeletal elements, I have shown that (incomplete) calcanei, metapodia and phalanges I and II can be used successfully to assign a specimen to a sex and should no longer be excluded from osteometric analyses. Differences in the demographic compositions of the taphocoenoses lead to the assumption that hunters in the 11th century AD targeted large reindeer bucks, while at the 13th-century sites, the complete biocoenose is represented, albeit in a different ratio. There seems to have been a shift in hunting technique: from selective hunting to mass hunting. Size wise, the reindeer from Hardangervidda were smaller than reindeer from contemporary assemblages from the Dovre area (central Norway), a population that is genetically different. Few pathologically affected bones were encountered in the material, but some cases of infections, bone lesions and a progressed osteosarcoma are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive dataset for the Georges Bank region is used to directly compare the distribution of the death assemblage and the living community at large spatial scales and to assess the application of the death assemblage in tracking changes in species’ distributional pattern as a consequence of climate change. Focus is placed on the biomass-dominant clam species of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf: the surfclam Spisula solidissima and the ocean quahog Arctica islandica , for which extensive datasets exist on the distributions of the living population and the death assemblage. For both surfclams and ocean quahogs, the distribution of dead shells, in the main, tracked the distribution of live animals relatively closely. Thus, for both species, the presence of dead shells was a positive indicator of present, recent, or past occupation by live animals. Shell dispersion within habitat was greater for surfclams than for ocean quahogs either due to spatial time averaging, animals not living in all habitable areas all of the time, or parautochthonous redistribution of shell. The regional distribution of dead shell differed from the distribution of live animals, for both species, in a systematic way indicative of range shifts due to climate change. In each case the differential distribution was consistent with warming of the northwest Atlantic. Present-day overlap of live surfclams with live ocean quahogs was consistent with the expectation that the surfclam's range is shifting into deeper water in response to the recent warming trend. The presence of locations devoid of dead shells where live surfclams nevertheless were collected measures the recentness of this event. The presence of dead ocean quahog shells at shallower depths than live ocean quahogs offers good evidence that a range shift has occurred in the past, but prior to the initiation of routine surveys in 1980. Possibly, this range shift tracks initial colonization at the end of the Little Ice Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molluscan benthic assemblages provide unique opportunities for understanding both spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity. Species richness in the shell remains found at a site (i.e. the death assemblage) is typically several times higher than in the counterpart living assemblage, reflecting a complex history of settlement, dissemination and decomposition post-mortem. We used high-density temporal and spatial sampling (> 37000 individuals representing 196 taxa) of a shallow (5–8 m) nearshore sandy habitat off the coast of south-east Sardinia (Italy, Mediterranean Sea) to study the factors responsible for differences in the relative diversity of living and death assemblages. We found that death assemblages at all sites were considerably more diverse than living communities (1.5–3.5x more dead than living taxa after sample-size standardization), with 78% of all taxa solely recovered as empty shells, resulting in low live-dead agreement. By carefully filtering the raw data and combining them with habitat information extracted from the literature, we disentangled the major causes of this discordance and quantified their individual effects. Increased dead diversities could not be attributed to undersampling of the living community, but instead resulted from three phenomena of decreasing importance: the post-mortem, out-of-habitat transport of non-indigenous taxa (57% of dead-only taxa were allochthonous), the time-averaged presence of rare indigenous taxa (40% of dead-only taxa), and the likely local extirpation of a small number of species (3% of dead-only taxa). Our approach demonstrates how ecological inferences based on death assemblages can be improved by restricting analyses to demonstrably indigenous taxa, and highlights how mollusc shell remains can be used to provide information over both ecological and evolutionary timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yellow coral Dendrophyllia cornigera (Lamarck, 1816) is a NE Atlantic-Mediterranean scleractinian. It is considered a typical hard bottom species, generally reported on outcropping rocks from mesophotic to upper bathyal depths. Several evidences suggest that this species is able to tolerate a broad range of temperatures, which allows it to colonize numerous environments in a wide depth range. In the present study, we first provided a detailed ecological characterization of the D. cornigera dense aggregation thriving on the Mantice Shoal (NW Ligurian Sea, Mediterranean Sea). Information on substrate type and inclination, average extension and density, colonies size-class frequency distribution and associated fauna are reported. Then, we presented an extensive review of the available information on the ecology of this species, including 142 new ROV records from the Italian coast (40–1820 m). Results indicated that D. cornigera occurs on a wide range of substrates, including soft bottoms and hardgrounds (outcropping rocks, coralligenous rock and dead cold-water coral frameworks), with significant differences in colony density and size among different substrates. Dendrophyllia cornigera creates three main facies, each characterized by a specific combination of substrate, inclination, depth, and associated fauna. Scattered living colonies, as well as large thanatocoenoses, display a wide geographical and bathymetric distribution. Differently, the facies represented by dense meadows on horizontal soft-bottoms results rare, being reported only from the Mantice Shoal and the Amendolara Bank (Ionian Sea). The radiocarbon age of the thanatocoenoses varies between 400 (Corsica Channel) and 13000 (Vercelli Seamount) years before present. This study highlights the wide adaptability of D. cornigera in terms of environmental settings, changing the current view on the ecology of this species and providing essential insights for the implementation of international deep-sea habitat classification schemes and conservation measures. • The ecology of structuring species is poorly known, minimizing conservation efforts. • Dendrophyllia cornigera is considered a hard bottom, temperature-tolerant coral. • This study evidences the wide ecological adaptability of this deep habitat-former. • Deep thanatocoenoses hold paleo-information on past Mediterranean biocoenoses. • Results support the implementation of deep-sea habitat classification systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sampling of flood debris deposits can be useful method in insufficiently surveyed areas. This sampling method also allows us to detect the presence of rare and endangered species in the study area. We studied flood debris along the Neresnica River to gather data on mollusc fauna of the Pliešovská Kotlina basin and the Javorie Mts. (Central Slovakia). In spring 2010, samples of flood debris were taken at three sites along the river. Molluscan thanatocoenoses were composed of 68 species (56 terrestrial and 12 aquatic ones). The most notable records were two subterranean species – Lucilla scintilla and L. singleyana, and also the species of nature conservation interest – Vertigo angustior. We found representatives of all ecological groups of molluscs, which provide the evidence of ecosystem diversity in various habitats along the river. We documented that the land use of the studied drainage basin was only partially reflected by the structure of mollusc assemblages from flood deposits.

The Posidoniid-bearing rhythmic deposits, Toarcian to Aalenian (Early/Middle Jurassic) in age, of the Umbria-Marche basins (Fiuminata Colle Corno and Valdorbia type section) consist of hundred couplets, each composed by two semicouplets, a calcium carbonate-poor bed and a calcium carbonate-rich bed, respectively (CacO 3 between 10% to 85%), where event tempestite beds randomly occurs. The aim of this work is to show ichnocoenoses and taphocoenoses as well as the faunistic variations of each semicouplet and event beds. Each couplet is ∼30 cm thick in the Toarcian Rosso Ammonitico and up to 40 cm in the Aalenian Calcari e Marne a Posidonia Formation, where the sedimentation rate increased. Here, couplets were deposited in the dysaerobic/aerobic transition zone. The clay-rich portion contains abundant thin-shelled poikilaerobic bivalves and benthic foraminifers (whithout radiolarians) and shows oxygen-poor ichnocoenosis with Chondrites , while the taphocoenosis exhibits convex-upward disposition and disarticulated bivalve shells. Conversely, the limestone semicouplet is rich in radiolarians and thin-shelled bivalves, usually more burrowed (ichnocoenosis including Chondrites and few Planolites and Thalassinoides ) than the former, with grouping, dispersion, biogenic fragmentation and orientation-reorientation. In all marl-limestone semicouplets, foraminifers and radiolarians exhibit a periodic inverse correlation in abundance, while thin-shelled bivalves are always abundant. Rhythmically disposed within the rhythmites are also event beds indicating an occasional oxygen-rich substrate, fine-grained calcarenitic tempestites with hummocky cross-stratification, and winnowed bed (thin shelled bivalve concentrations). These deposits are intensely bioturbated (ichnocoenosis including Skolithos , Planolites , Trypanites , Chondrites , and Thalassinoides ). Taphocoenoses include fragmentation, grouping, surficial burrowing, biogenic reorientation, and deep burrowing. Ichnological and taphonomical features indicate high physical and biogenical reworking affecting sediments. The Jurassic depocenters of Valdorbia and Fiuminata that received rhythmical dilution (clay) or productivity (carbonate) cycles during Toarcian and Aalenian time can therefore strongly contribute to the study of ichnological and taphonomical variations in rhythmic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Live-dead (LD) fidelity studies are a fundamental tool for assessing the quality of the paleobiological information preserved in the fossil record. An important feature of death assemblages (DAs) is that they are time-averaged to some degree. Previous studies found that subtidal carbonate environments are characterized by lower time-averaging in comparison to siliciclastic settings, primarily because of a high rate of shell loss due to bioerosion and dissolution. These factors lead to increased temporal resolution in subtidal carbonate death assemblages (DAs) but more intense bias in species composition due to differential loss of vulnerable shells. A consequence of lower time-averaging is a better match in live-dead (LD) richness. We evaluated LD fidelity of molluscan assemblages from soft sediments in subtropical, carbonate tidal flats along the coast of the United Arab Emirates (Persian (Arabian) Gulf) to test these predictions. A total of 7193 mollusks from six sites were analyzed. We found that DAs are, on average, over five times richer than living assemblages (LAs) at site scale, and nearly five times at habitat scale. We found that early cementation, lateral mixing, intense bioturbation and moderate sedimentation rates can account for large LD differences in richness. Differential intensity in lateral mixing by post-mortem transport inflated alpha, beta, and gamma diversity by 28, 10 and 42%. However, beta diversity is strongly underestimated in DAs when compared to LAs. Evenness was larger in DAs both at site and at habitat scales, but there was only a high mismatch at sites with patchy LAs. Fidelity of feeding guild structure was high for rank abundance, with secondary consumers well represented in DAs. The occurrence of out-of-habitat taxa did not affect fidelity in rank-abundance of feeding guild structure. Our results suggest that time-averaging in carbonate tidal flats can potentially be higher compared with subtidal carbonate environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reef-associated sediments accumulate over time recording the history of biological communities. The agreement between live and dead assemblages has been extensively studied, because discrepancies between the two can reveal taphonomic bias, anthropogenic impact, and/or a decrease in temporal resolution of dead assemblages to centennial scales (i.e., time averaging). Given the potential of sedimentary assemblages to provide temporal perspectives on the history of modern communities, assessments of live-dead agreement in reef mollusk assemblage composition are necessary and timely for understanding rapid environmental change. One Tree Reef (OTR) (southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia) has had very little direct anthropogenic influence over the past four decades, making it a good system for focusing on taphonomic patterns. Live ( n = 1335) and dead ( n = 6919) molluscan assemblages were collected from three shallow (6 m) carbonate soft-sediment lagoons. Diversity and evenness metrics indicated no significant difference between the live and dead assemblages, and dead assemblage rank order abundance explains 82% of that of the live assemblage. Differences in composition were largely due to sample size, the low probability of sampling rare species and to a lesser degree differences in skeletal durability. Taphonomic factors were responsible for less than 20% of the differences in species composition between live and dead shell assemblages. The live molluscan assemblage sampled was similar to the live assemblage sampled 30 years ago. Given that time averaging is approximately 19 years in the OTR lagoon, we conclude that the composition of the living assemblage has remained largely unchanged for the last 30 years. These findings indicate that dead assemblages preserved in shallow, fully carbonate environments primarily reflect the composition of the original source communities, making them useful to identify recent changes in coral reef areas where anthropogenic impacts are present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in cave bear palaeobiology focusing on population structure and mortality analysis may improve our understanding regarding the ecology of this species which vanished at the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, prior to Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), if assessed populations are large enough. Such population is available in Urşilor Cave, from north-western Romania, known as one of the most rich and complex European MIS3 cave bear sites. From the palaeontological excavation, situated at the lower level of the cave (= Scientific Reserve), more than 210 cave bear isolated lower molars, 160 mandibles and almost 180 canines were extracted and analyzed. The results obtained on the wear stages of the studied molars and mandibles indicated an 'L'-shaped curve and suggest a non-attritional death pattern and a bone assemblage juvenile dominated. Moreover, the sex-ratio of upper and lower canines indicates a net dominance of females (5.4 females: 1 male). Although a 'catastrophic' death pattern was obtained for cave bears, the animals seem to have died diachronically (non-simultaneously), over a time span of more than 6000 years. The triangular graph of age distribution is not appropriate for death assemblages from traps such as karst caves, where taphonomic processes like predation or scavenging would have played a less important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algal mats in lakes and reservoirs can transport diaspores and carpological remains of plants, and thus may influence the creation of taphocoenoses. In 2012, I quantified carpological remains in two types of algal mats from a small reservoir in southern Poland. Mats formed by filamentous algae participate primarily in the original transport of diaspores, and can influence their concentration and facilitate their migration, mainly between the shores of the reservoir. Diatom mats partake primarily in diaspore redeposition, but can also cause their dispersal between the shore zone and the central part of the reservoir. This research demonstrates that mats built by diatoms contain far more remains and are more biologically diverse than filamentous algal mats. Movement of carpological remains observed in both types of algal mats points to their role in the formation of taphocoenoses and suggests that algal mats must be considered when interpreting macrofossil records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decomposed bodies pose many questions for researchers regarding environmental effects, cause of death, and patterns. This study aimed to observe the factors associated with decomposed bodies autopsied at the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Service Medico-legal Mortuary. A total of 4876 autopsies were conducted from 2010 to 2011, of which 109 were decomposed. Black individuals made up the largest proportion (67%) followed by White (26%). Males comprised 86.2%, while 12.8% were female. The mean age was 42.78 years. Most cases were in the early stages of decomposition (49.5%), with 32.1% bloated, 11.9% in active decay, 2.8% in advanced decay, and 3.7% were skeletal. Insect activity was identified in 25.7% of decomposition cases. Cause of death was determined in 48.6% of cases. Of all the cases, 64% were found indoors and 23% outdoors, while 23% had insufficient information regarding the location. Of considerable interest was the number of cases from hospitals and clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We describe a diverse taphocoenosis in a piece of Mexican amber that includes two morphotypes assignable to the leafy liverwort family Lejeuneaceae, an angiosperm seed, a putative bud scale, dematiaceous hyphomycetes as well as dipteran and hymenopteran insects belonging to Phoridae (genera Megaselia , Puliciphora , and Apocephalus ), Cecidomyiidae, Psychodidae and Mymaridae (genus Alaptus ). Liverworts are known from eight amber deposits but have only rarely been observed in Mexican amber. A perianth-bearing liverwort gametophyte in the piece of amber is classified as Mastigolejeunea extincta sp. nov., and several sterile gametophytes are described as Ceratolejeunea sublaetefusca sp. nov. With these new species, approximately 60 liverworts have been described from amber to date. Remarkable syninclusions include a hyphomycete which is the first darkly-pigmented filamentous microfungus with clear reproductive structures reported from Mexican amber. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy of a fragment of the investigated amber piece revealed a “Type I” Mexican amber. A whole solubility test suggested a mature resin, although the resin was not much oxidized during the process of amberization. Available evidence suggests that the amber was produced by a Hymenaea tree and that the resin was exposed on its bark, behaving as a sticky trap for insects and vascular plant fragments, and also embedding some epiphytic liverworts and fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colour plays an eminent role in beadwork. Colour modifications are reported on early shell beads from Middle Stone Age sites. However, identifying the colouring agent and demonstrating the intentional nature of the colouring process is not straightforward. Here, we provide analytical data on colour and structural modifications observed on Nassarius kraussianus ( Nk) collected in modern thanatocoenoses and on shells of the same species experimentally heated in oxidizing and reductive atmospheres. Comparison with Nk shell beads from the 72 ka old Middle Stone Age levels of Blombos Cave, South Africa, and contextual analysis of other malacological remains from the same levels that were not used as ornaments identify the mechanisms responsible for the change of colour in modern Nk thanatocoenoses and heated shells, and show that although some Nk shell beads were heated, intentional heat treatment of shell beads is not demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyrannosaurid cranial bones - including a maxilla, dentary, and pterygoid - were collected from a monodominant Edmontosaurus bonebed in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation exposed near the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The maxilla can be identified as Albertosaurus sarcophagus based on the narrow interfenestral strut and relatively deep dental pits along the length of the palatal shelf. Cranial bones are interpreted to have come from a single large individual that was incorporated into the site during, or temporally close to, the formation of the final taphocoenosis. This discovery constitutes the northernmost record of A. sarcophagus, and helps to narrow the geographic gap of latest Cretaceous tyrannosaurs between Alberta and Alaska. The geographic distribution of A. sarcophagus - eclipsed only in areal extent by Tyrannosaurus rex in North America - attests to the adaptability of this species, which endured regional changes in climate that forced extirpation of many ornithischian taxa during deposition of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Benthic foraminifera fossil shells are particularly useful in reconstructing water depth, temperature, the exported flux of organic carbon to the sea floor, and the level of bottom-water oxygenation in paleoenvironments. In this study, we investigated the living (stained) and dead (thanatocoenoses) benthic foraminifera assemblages collected in surface sediment samples from the Bohai Sea (BS) and the northern Yellow Sea (NYS). The samples were collected from different seasons, i.e. 50 samples in May (spring) and 46 samples in November (autumn). Our benthic foraminifera fauna analysis of these samples shows four living assemblages in May and three in November, indicating a sensitive response to seasonal environmental changes where the fauna live in the modern setting of the BS and NYS. Our redundancy analysis (RDA) of the living assemblages and their corresponding environmental parameters indicates that in spring, the abundances of Astrononion tasmanensis , Nonionella stella and Bulimina sp. have positive correlations with increased water depth, density and salinity, but are negatively correlated with increased FLOUR (chlorophyll). The abundances of Buccella frigid and Verneuilinulla advena are positively correlated with higher levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) and negatively correlated with increases in temperature. The abundances of Cribrononion subincertum are positively correlated with increased turbidity (TURB) and temperature, but negatively correlated with increased DO. In autumn, there is a positive correlation between the abundances of V. advena and increased salinity. Protelphidium tuberculatum , Ammonia beccarii (vars.) abundances, however, have negative correlations with salinity. During the autumn, the benthic foraminifera species P. tuberculatum was noticeably expanded and the dominance areas occupied by Elphidium magellanicum and C. subincertum were significantly reduced in the BS; along the southern coast of the Liaodong Peninsula, the dominant Buccella frigida in the spring was replaced by V. advena in autumn. The seasonal shifting of benthic foraminifera species are local responses to the combined changes in bottom water temperature, salinity, TURB and DO in the BS and NYS, and also to the more intensified autumn/winter intrusion of the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC). The dead assemblages of benthic foraminifera, which are used to reconstruct paleoenvironments, exhibited considerable destruction of agglutinated assemblages. We found that such species as V. advena , Trochammina sp., Ammoscalaria sp. and Polskiammina asiatica are missing from the dead assemblages, possibly due to postmortem taphonomic processes in the BS and NYS. Considerable destruction of agglutinated species in dead assemblages may slightly bias our estimates of paleoenvironmental parameters when they are based on benthic foraminifera fossil shells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study describes and categorizes the preservable, and thus predominantly molluscan, component of the macrofauna death assemblages of sub-environments within the northern Benguela upwelling system. This is especially important for assembling actualistic data that can later serve for identifying similar settings in the geological record. A total of 16 samples were examined. Contrary to stereotypes, benthic communities are present but highly variable across the high-productivity tract and are characterized by distinctive community structures. Benguela system document a decrease in body size of chemosymbiotic bivalves (lucinids) and percent of chemosymbionts and deposit-feeders, and an overall increase in species richness and epifaunal-infaunal ratio. This trend is in accordance with the upwelling facies-gradient from diatomaceous ooze in areas of maximum upwelling intensity outward to the aerated but food-abundant carbonate oozes and spatially coexisting phosphorite concentrations. Differences in seafloor oxygen concentration along with variable food availability played major roles in structuring the death assemblages under the Benguela upwelling system. The ecologic data provide ways to distinguish between facies of low and high shell production along an increasing oxygen gradient, and also between assemblages with moderate and higher species richness associated with time-averaging. The data support the existence of a wider range of time averaging in the formation of molluscan sand and gravel samples in the northern Benguela than previously appreciated. Given the scarcity of information on macrobenthic ecology from modern high-productivity settings, these death assemblages can represent a "modern" analog. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Benthic foraminiferal thanatocoenoses from the Cap-Ferret Canyon area were studied in the >150-µm fraction of 4–5cm deep sediment levels, at 13 stations. The shallowest station (151m depth) is located at the shelf break, close to the canyon head. All other stations are located along two bathymetric transects: seven stations along the canyon axis between 300 and 3000m depth, and five stations from 300m to 2000m depth along the southern flank of the canyon. The comparison between the live (Rose-Bengal-stained) and dead assemblages shows that biological (i.e. population dynamic) and taphonomic processes (i.e. test destruction, transport) generate important discrepancies between live and dead assemblages. An important question is, to what degree post-mortem transport and redeposition of foraminiferal tests contribute to the difference between living and dead assemblages? The composition of the thanatocoenoses (<1% of neritic species) indicates that there is no substantial transport of shells >150µm from the inner continental shelf to the Cap-Ferret Canyon axis. However, transport of tests from outer shelf or upper canyon axis towards deeper sites occurs, as indicated by an increase of diversity indices of the dead fauna along the canyon axis. Moreover, some species (e.g., Cassidulina carinata) are observed in the living fauna restricted to the shallow sites, but occur in important amounts in the dead fauna at deeper stations, suggesting that these taxa have been transported from upper canyon stations toward deeper sites. Since Cap-Ferret Canyon is inactive in terms of massive sediment transport (i.e. gravity events), downslope transport of foraminiferal tests probably takes place in nepheloid layers. Downslope transports of foraminiferal tests may create important biases for the utilisation of paleoceanographic proxies using the assemblage characteristics and/or the geochemical composition of selected species. However, the study of dead assemblages along a canyon axis can give important clues about the sedimentary dynamics, especially an idea of the quantity of reworked foraminifera transported through the canyon axis. Along the adjacent flank, such evidence of downslope transport was not observed. Despite taphonomic (test destruction) and biological processes (population dynamics), the live fauna closely resembles the distribution and the composition of the dead assemblage. Therefore, ecological information obtained from the fossil flank samples can be more reliably used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An extraordinarily diverse assemblage of cirripedes is described from a shallow-water deposit of late Oligocene age from Cosy Dell farm, near Waimumu, Southland, New Zealand. It is unusual not only because it represents a rarely preserved intertidal to shallow subtidal fauna, but also because it contains at least nine species, five of which are new to science. The deposit contains the earliest known representatives of the genera Chamaesipho and Notobalanus and these are associated with abundant Verruca, an association that no longer occurs in present-day New Zealand waters. Although the remains are intimately associated with each other, the deposit is interpreted as a condensed heterogeneous taphocoenosis, with intertidal zone taxa (Verruca, Chamaesipho, Tetraclitella, Austrobalanus, Protelminius) mixing with upper subtidal species (Eolasma, Notobalanus, Tasmanobalanus) and pelagic cirripedes (Lepas). urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:74EECF88-AF4A-4EA7-BF7B-7487D0E35D5D urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8D81F5AD-3861-48A5-A54B-CD99621D2525 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D0636517-BEE5-4D10-92A7-1EAD0F54C11A urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:79A2668E-2CAA-4CE6-AD4E-9035050DBD33 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:66B5BDFF-A3F4-4D7C-88E8-6ADB09A25471 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7B508D69-6705-43CA-8C1E-0A98676B604A [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent invasion of a naticid predator ( Laguncula pulchella) and associated changes in the death assemblages of bivalve prey ( Ruditapes philippinarum) provide a baseline for interpreting predator-prey interactions in the fossil record. This article presents quantitative data on size-frequency distributions ( SFDs) of living and death assemblages, prey size selectivity and drillhole site selectivity from the Tona Coast, northern Japan. Before the appearance of the predator, the SFD of the death assemblage exhibited a right-skewed platykurtic distribution, and there were very few predatory drillholes. Once the predator appeared, frequencies of predatory drillholes increased, particularly in the smallest size class (2-10 mm shell length). Furthermore, juvenile peaks in the SFDs of death assemblages sharpened, and thus, SFDs exhibited strongly right-skewed leptokurtic distributions. These changes suggest that intense naticid predation precluded juvenile clams from growing to adulthood, and thus, many dead shells of juvenile clams were introduced into the sediment. The changes in SFDs may also indicate intensification of predation pressure in the fossil record. No temporal shifts in prey size selectivity and drillhole site selectivity were noted, despite substantial changes in the demographics of Ruditapes philippinarum. This suggests that lack of specific size classes of preferred prey species is unlikely to be a primary factor accounting for size mismatches between predator and prey, because, in such situations, naticid predators probably attack other prey species. Therefore, such a factor is unlikely to primarily explain the less stereotypical predatory behaviour (i.e. low prey size selectivity and low drillhole site selectivity), which has been frequently recognized in fossil assemblages. Such less stereotypical predatory behaviour in fossil assemblages is likely to be explained by other factors, such as the existence of multiple predator taxa and lack of specific size classes of all available prey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biologists increasingly appreciate the importance of community-level attributes in the functioning and temporal turnover of ecosystems, but data other than species richness are difficult to acquire over the habitat-to-regional and decadal-to-millennial scales needed to recognize biodiversity change, discriminate between natural and anthropogenic drivers, and inform theoretical and applied ecology. Death assemblages (DAs)-the actively accumulating organic remains encountered in present-day seabeds and landscapes, as distinct from permanently buried fossil assemblages-are an underexploited source of historical information at precisely these scales. Meta-analyses, dynamic modeling, and individual case studies, particularly of mollusks and mammals, reveal that DAs differ from censused living assemblages (LAs) primarily because they are temporally coarse, time-averaged samples, contrary to concerns that postmortem bias dominates. Temporal pooling predictably damps the ability of DAs to detect small-scale variation, but promotes their ability to inventory rare species; estimate the abundance structure of the metacommunity; document range changes; evaluate historic habitat use; and identify now-absent species, community states, and anthropogenically shifted baselines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the history of diatom studies carried out in the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Lagoon since the beginning of the 20 century. One aspect of the research focuses on describing the structure of planktonic and benthic communities living in different parts of the area or occurring in their surface sediments as taphocoenoses. Other investigations concentrate on the fossil diatom flora, which is widely used in the research on the Late Glacial and Holocene to resolve paleogeographic, sedimentological and paleoecological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faunal and floral fossil remains of Late Cretaceous – Early Palaeocene age were recovered from flint pebbles from glaciofluvial gravel sediments in the Fukov area, northern Bohemia, the Czech Republic. Sedimentology of these sediments is discussed. Suggestions are made regarding the origin of the flints and their possible sources. The recovered taphocoenosis consists of one fossil plant taxon, nineteen bryozoans, three molluscs, one sabellid, and seven echinoderms. This type of flint and fossil fauna may indicate a pioneer character of the association found in glaciofluvial sediments near Fukov, perhaps an unconsolidated environment on a continental shelf margin which is characteristic for North-western European chalk. The occurrence of plant fossil in this type of deep shelf sediment is unique and suggests the existence of some land mass at a relatively close distance to the place of deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Dead benthic foraminiferal assemblages were studied in the >150μm fraction of 4–5cm deep sediment levels at 18 stations in the Whittard Canyon area in June 2007. This sediment layer is composed of fairly recent sediment (<312years). The stations were located along 4 bathymetric transects ranging from 300 to 3000m depth: two along the main canyon axes (Eastern and Western branches) and two along adjacent open slopes (Eastern and Western slopes). The comparison between the live (Rose-Bengal-stained) communities and the dead assemblages reveals more or less important differences in representation of species which can be attributed to various biological and taphonomic processes. Differences in species composition between live and dead faunas are much larger along both canyon branches than in the open slope environments. In both canyon branches, the population dynamics, such as seasonal response to phytodetritus deposition, certainly contribute to differences between live and dead faunas. For instance, Bulimina marginata, which is usually considered as an opportunistic species is over-represented in the dead assemblage. The fragility of the tests of some species can explain their total absence in the thanatocoenoses. This concerns many organic cemented arenaceous tests, miliolid tests sensitive to dissolution and perforate taxa with thin tests. Furthermore, transport (e.g. sediment gravity flows), active in both canyon branches, leads to an increasing relative contribution of allochthonous individuals, originating from outer shelf and upper canyon sites, towards the deeper canyon stations. Consequently the dead faunas do no reflect local environmental conditions. The high abundance of transported dead foraminifera in both canyon branches leads to important biases in the foraminiferal assemblage composition, but may also significantly bias the interpretation of δ13C, δ18O, trace-elements and 14C concentration in foraminiferal shells. It may therefore strongly complicate the reconstruction of environmental parameters such as bottom water temperature or exported paleoproductivity, and radiocarbon dating of the foraminiferal assemblages. Therefore, in both canyon axes, the use of dead foraminiferal faunas to reconstruct paleoenvironmental in situ conditions is precluded. However, the study of dead assemblages in the canyon branches, in particular the quantity of allochthonous foraminifera, can give important clues about the downslope sedimentary dynamics. On both open slopes, despite taphonomic (test destruction) and biological processes (population dynamics), the distribution and the composition of the live fauna resemble those of the dead assemblage. In these areas, dead foraminiferal faunas include much less material derived from downslope transport. Consequently, on the open slope, dead assemblages appear to better reflect local conditions. Therefore, the ecological information obtained from fossil open slope samples can be more reliably used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The early halophytic angiosperm Pseudoasterophyllites cretaceus from the Cenomanian Peruc Korycany Formation of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin and from the Late Albian of the Northern Aquitanian Basin is redescribed. The plant is characterized by semi-whorled linear, and heavily cutinized leaves with paracytic stomata. Stamens associated with P. cretaceus possess an apically emerging connective that possesses the same epidermal cell pattern as the leaves. The stamens are massive, tetrasporangiate, and contain Tucanopollis pollen, thus clearly indicating affinities of P. cretaceus to the basal angiosperms. The plants that co-occur with P. cretaceus in semi-autochtonous taphocoenoses include the conifer Frenelopsis alata, which was likely a halophyte or halo-tolerant glycophyte growing in habitats close to the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Leeward Islands lie within an oceanographically complex area influenced by North Atlantic Gyre flow and the Orinoco plume. Late Quaternary planktonic foraminiferal assemblages are reported from three middle bathyal piston cores (from NW to SE: En20-2, En20-10, En20-16) in the Leeward Islands. En20-2 was obtained closest to the 200m bathymetric contour, En20-10 farthest offshore. The bathyal benthonic foraminifera from En20-2 are indicative of high surface productivity. The planktonic foraminiferal assemblages differ between the cores. The “Globigerinoides ruber group” (=white and pink G. ruber + G. cyclostomus) typically increases shoreward, but in this study it was most abundant in En20-10. West of the study area (i.e., around Puerto Rico), white-walled specimens form ~66% of the “G. ruber group”, but in the Leeward Islands the percentages are higher (mean 81.7% of total “G. ruber group”). Globigerinita glutinata and Globoturborotalia rubescens (pink) were at their most abundant in the SE core En20-16, while G. rubescens (white) was at its most abundant in the NW core En20-2. Comparison with benthonic foraminiferal distributions suggests that the following planktonic species have potential as indicators of surface productivity, Globigerinella aequilateralis, G. glutinata and Globorotalia inflata being indicative of enhanced surface productivity and Globigerinoides immaturus, G. trilobus var. and Globorotalia tumida of low surface productivity. Bottom-up SHE Analysis for Biozone Identification (SHEBI) indicates that each core contains several abundance biozones (ABs), but these do not correlate between the cores. Alpha diversities were S E =8.3–14.3 effective species, while beta diversities ranged from 0.65 to 1.54, but only two were statistically significant. Complementarities (64.7–87.6%) indicate that the AB boundaries reflect changes in the relative abundances of species, not overall diversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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The aim of this study was to analyze resting spores of Chaetoceros spp. preserved in Middle and Late Holocene sediments of the three parts of the Gulf of Gdańsk, southern Baltic Sea. The material studied consists of ten cores retrieved from Kuźnica Deep (Puck Lagoon), as well as the shallower and deeper parts of the Outer Puck Bay region. Our results indicate that the abundance of Chaetoceros resting spores in diatom taphocoenoses corresponded to regional and local paleoecological changes registered in Mastogloia, Littorina and Post-Littorina sediments, and that they also reflect human impact in the last hundred years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benthonic foraminifera are important indicators of environmental conditions in coastal and marine areas since they are very sensitive to changes in their surroundings, resulting in presence and abundance of species of the thanatocoenosis communities. The objective of this work is to compare the spatial and temporal changes in the composition and structure of the benthonic-foraminifera thanatocoenosis communities of the upper Gulf of California. Samples were collected seasonally (summer, fall and winter of 2009, and spring of 2010) in the area between Campo Don Abel and the southern end of Isla Montague. Four transects of the subtidal area were run perpendicular to the Baja California coastline, and a total of 56 sediment samples were taken. To differentiate the biocoenosis from thanatocoenosis, the samples were stained with rose bengal. Silt and clay were eliminated by wet sieving and the 63 to 180 μm fractions retained for picking. From each sample, 300 individuals were separated, identified and their relative abundance computed to determine the dominant species. Cluster analysis in Q & R modes was performed on the data and the Shannon-Weaver diversity index calculated; dominance was obtained using Simpson's index, and a distribution map was constructed. The most abundant genera were: Ammonia, Cribroelphidium and Rosalina; these represent preferably marine conditions, which show change in the upper Gulf of California. Also present were four genera of agglutinated foraminifera: Ammoscalaria, Reophax, Anomaloides and Nouria, but their distributions were centered at the southernmost stations of the study area, at the limits of the ancient estuary north of San Felipe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we carried out a multivariate analysis of taxonomic representativeness of mammal fossil bones in the Quaternary deposits from Northeastern Brazil, normally found in tanks (natural depressions in the crystalline basement), and caves originated from karstic deposits. The method employed was the cluster analysis. Taphocoenoses also composed by mammal bones from South Brazil and northermost Argentine were included in the analysis for comparative purposes. The results show that the northeastern Brazilian deposits formed a main group, distinct from the southern ones by the presence of endemic taxa of the Brazilian Intertropical Zone. Yet the analysis show that two subgroups are included within the Northeast Brazil taphocoenoses, one that includes the cave karstic deposits, characterized by great taxonomic diversity and large, medium and small sized mammals, and the other including all materials coming from tanks and ravines, where large mammals dominate. Taphonomic biases seem to be the best explanation to the distinct mammal distribution and selection in the tanks and ravines, when compared with those from the caves. However, the possibility that those distinct depositions could also represent a time-averaging process could not be discarded to the cave deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural accumulations of skeletal material (death assemblages) have the potential to provide historical data on species diversity and population structure for regions lacking decades of wildlife monitoring, thereby contributing valuable baseline data for conservation and management strategies. Previous studies of the ecological and temporal resolutions of death assemblages from terrestrial large-mammal communities, however, have largely focused on broad patterns of community composition in tropical settings. Here, I expand the environmental sampling of large-mammal death assemblages into a temperate biome and explore more demanding assessments of ecological fidelity by testing their capacity to record past population fluctuations of individual species in the well-studied ungulate community of Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone). Despite dramatic ecological changes following the 1988 wildfires and 1995 wolf re-introduction, the Yellowstone death assemblage is highly faithful to the living community in species richness and community structure. These results agree with studies of tropical death assemblages and establish the broad capability of vertebrate remains to provide high-quality ecological data from disparate ecosystems and biomes. Importantly, the Yellowstone death assemblage also correctly identifies species that changed significantly in abundance over the last 20 to ∼80 years and the directions of those shifts (including local invasions and extinctions). The relative frequency of fresh versus weathered bones for individual species is also consistent with documented trends in living population sizes. Radiocarbon dating verifies the historical source of bones from Equus caballus (horse): a functionally extinct species. Bone surveys are a broadly valuable tool for obtaining population trends and baseline shifts over decadal-to-centennial timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sampling carried out in the Ionian Sea off S. Maria di Leuca, Apulian Plateau Bank (Mediterranean Sea) provided disarticulated plates of six cirriped species belonging to the superorder Thoracica. They include the benthic species Scalpellum scalpellum (Scalpellomorpha), Balanus amphitrite (Balanomorpha), Verruca romettensis, Metaverruca imbricata and Metaverruca zanclea (Verrucomorpha). S. scalpellum is the unique bathyal species frequently occurring in the Mediterranean, whereas V. romettensis had been cited only one time previously. M. imbricata and M. zanclea are first reported for the Mediterranean, although the latter one is present only in thanatocenoses. Abundant pelagic Lepas pectinata (Lepadomorpha) apparently falling from floating algae, was also obtained. No living specimens were recovered and cirripeds were exclusively found as disarticulated plates within thanatocenoses. All these taxa are briefly described as well as information about their fossil and present-day distribution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Aral Sea, in 1960 the fourth largest lake on Earth, has since experienced a catastrophic environmental change, which appears to be mainly a result of human impact. Here, we attempt to add to a better understanding of environmental changes during the last millennium by using fossil mollusc assemblages obtained from 10 sediment cores, which were taken by gravity coring in 1991. The biogeographical analysis demonstrates that no endemic molluscs have existed in the Aral Sea during the last 1000 years. The investigated taxa are of Caspian and Palaearctic origin. The molluscan biodiversity is much lower than previously assumed and particularly low for such a large lake, indicating unstable ecological conditions during the period investigated. Using comparative ecological analyses of thanatocoenoses and stable isotope ratios in gastropod shells, we conclude that the main lake level changes of the last millennium were strong and abrupt, showing relative high stands at about 1300 AD and 1650 AD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Molluscan shells were sampled from 31 localities in the South Sea shelf (26 in the southeastern continental shelf and 5 in the southwest sea) to understand the sea-level changes and molluscan thanatocoenoses after the last glacial maximum (LGM). At the southeastern continental shelf, 13,074 shell remains were classified into 119 genera and 170 species (Bivalvia: 73 genera and 105 species; Gastropoda: 43 genera and 60 species; Scaphopoda: 3 genera and 5 species). Cluster analyses were used to group the species into 12 assemblages (Glycymeris-Ventricoloidea-Phacosoma IGVPA], Glycymeris-Paphia-Pitar [GPPA], Glycymeris-Cryptopecten [GCA], Glycymeris-Ventricoloidea-Cryptopecten [GVCA], Pecten-Pitar, Ostrea-Limopsis, Dentalium, Nuculana-Cranulilimopsis, Lucinoma-Glycymeris, Pecten-Acila-Siphonalia, Glycymeris, and Buccium), among which the Glycymeris fauna (GVPA, GPPA, GCA, GVCA) occurred at 11 stations, mainly around Tsushima Island on the South Korean shelf. Radiocarbon dates between late Pleistocene and Holocene were determined for 47 dominant and specific species, which were sampled from 24 stations of the South Sea. Fortunately, the habitats of the molluscan species were depth sensitive, allowing for the discrimination of samples into depth-limited age groups. These groups suggested that the sea level fell by about 150-160 m about 15,000 years ago (during LGM), allowing a land bridge to form between the Korean peninsula and Japan. Subsequently the sea rose approximately 60 m about 9000 years ago. Sea level remained at 50-60 m until about 4000-5000 years ago. About 3000-4000 years ago sea level rose to about 10-20 m (below present) and has remained there to the present. Glycymeris fauna were created on the southeastern shelf about 6000 years ago, whereas Arca fauna prospered in the southwestern sea area about 2000-3000 years ago when the sea level was 10-20 m below present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the loss of Ostracoda biodiversity in Western Mediterranean wetlands. It involves the study of six shallow lakes in Ramsar wetland sites to assess past and present biodiversity of ostracod and relate it to the status of the lakes. It was found out that ostracod taphocoenoses has higher species richness than the corresponding biocoenoses in all the wetlands that were studied. It was also revealed that some lakes have lost most of their past ostracod community due to the increase of trophic status in some cases.

In death-averse American society, the field of thanatology is often socially and academically isolating. The purpose of this article is to describe the experiences of a group of death scholars and share insights gained as members of an interdisciplinary team. They discuss the ways in which they have created a special "safe" space for death study collaboration. The melding of their individual passions, personalities, and professional perspectives has allowed them to form a productive and satisfying work environment. Additional discourse in this field is needed on the nature and processes of such death-studies groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fossil oyster assemblages have a great diversity of geometries. Their accumulations can be tridimensional (shell bed), within a strata, or bidimensional, on a strata surface (hardground). A taphonomic analysis can be used to discriminate these assemblages according to the way in which time has been recorded in sedimentary sequences. This preliminary analysis conditions palaeoenvironmental interpretations. Thus, a typology of the various existing assemblages is proposed according to several examples of shellbeds of the Upper Cretaceous of the North-Aquitaine basin (SW France) and the Upper Neogene of Andalucía (SE Spain). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bioerosion on shells of a brachiopod-bearing thanatocoenosis dredged on red-coral sea-bottom (depth 100 m, 12 miles off the southwestern coast of Alborán Island, Spain) was analyzed. Although low, the intensity of predation was noticeable. Predation drill holes belonging to the ichnogenera Oichnus simplex, O. paraboloides and O. ovalis were recognized. They were probably produced by Muricidae and Marginellidae (gastropods) and octopod cephalopods, respectively. Oichnus ovalis was more common on Terebratulina retusa . A strong selectivity with respect to species, valve, and size was noted. Terebratulina retusa , especially small individuals, was preyed upon more often than any other species. The central portion of both valves was attacked more frequently than expected by chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed subfossil death assemblages of aquatic invertebrate communities in a salinity series of 35 western Uganda maar-crater lakes to evaluate their potential as biological indicators of past habitat conditions in paleo-environmental research. The study region encompasses the climatological and hydrological gradient between the dry floor and moist shoulders of the Edward-George branch of the East African Rift Valley, and includes mesotrophic to hyper-eutrophic, and shallow unstratified to deep meromictic lakes with a surface-water salinity range between 101 and 135 400µS/cm. Focusing on non-chironomid aquatic invertebrates with good fossil preservation, we found that fossil larval remains of the Dipteran families Culicidae, Ephydridae, and Stratiomyidae are good indicators of saline environments. Our data further suggest that the abundances of Bryozoan statoblasts and Chaoboridae are indicative of, respectively, the fraction of the littoral zone covered by aquatic macrophytes and of lake trophic state, but a lake reference data set more specifically designed to cover variation in these environmental factors will be needed to determine the strength of these relationships. In these small, simple lake basins, recent death assemblages recovered from a single mid-lake surface-sediment sample provides a more complete inventory of local aquatic invertebrate communities and the distribution of species among lakes than exploratory live sampling of those taxa in a selection of littoral, benthic and pelagic habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three shallow brackish water lagoons on the Baltic Sea coast of Germany were studied for ostracod (Crustacea) associations in macrophyte habitats. In order to assess the use of fossil ostracod valves for the reconstruction of Holocene submerged plant communities, we analysed living associations (biocoenosis) on, below and around macrophytes as well as dead valve assemblages (thanatocoenosis) around phytal habitats and on un-vegetated sediment surfaces. The salinity conditions cover the oligohaline to mesohaline range from about 3 psu in the Saaler Bodden to about 10 psu in the Salzhaff. Surprisingly, we found remarkably high numbers of living ostracods (mainly Xestoleberis aurantia and Loxoconcha elliptica) on characeans from the Barther Bodden only. The plants from other stations were generally barren of ostracods. Nevertheless, distinguishable ostracod associations live around submerged macrophytes across the studied salinity range. Exclusively phytal ostracod species seem to be lacking in β-oligohaline water, so ostracod valves from sediment cores can hardly be used as proxies for past macrophytal cover in this salinity range. Xestoleberis aurantia, X. nitida and Loxoconcha elliptica are the typical phytal ostracods in α-oligohaline and β-mesohaline water of the study area. We consider that they have potential to be used as indicators of past macrophytal habitats, but further studies are necessary to confirm this. The differentiation of specific plant communities by means of ostracod associations was not possible. In conclusion, we anticipate that a general, temporally and spatially averaged picture of past aquatic macrophyte distribution can be obtained by analysing ostracod valve assemblages from α-oligohaline and mesohaline waters in the Holocene of the southern Baltic Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]