Ecological response of plant consumers to Middle-Upper Pennsylvanian extinctions in Illinois Basin coal swamps: Evidence from plant/arthropod interactions
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Plant Biology
Paleobotanical studies of coal-swamp vegetation during the Middle to Upper Pennsylvanian of North America indicate major changes from lycopsid dominated to tree-fern dominated coal-swamp forests as a result of extinction. This taxonomic shift from lycopsids to tree ferns should have implications on dependent feeding guilds, such as detritivores and herbivores. Comparative coal-ball evidence from the Springfield and Herrin Coals (Carbondale Fm.) and Calhoun Coal (Mattoon Fm.) is used to address this issue. The two major feeding guilds of Pennsylvanian coal-swamps were detritivores and herbivores. Detritivores were dominant throughout the interval. Evidence suggests an increasing presence of herbivores during the Desmoinesian and especially during the Missourian. Based on identifications of tissue types found in coprolite types and plant tissue damage patterns, detritivores such as oribatid mites and an unknown stem-parenchyma consumer of Psaronius tree ferns occur before and after the extinction. Based on available evidence, detritivores apparently exhibited stability, particularly since the taxonomic affiliation of their food resource shifted considerably, thus indicating dietary specificities based instead on tissue type. There is evidence for herbivory by stem-miners on Missourian age tree-fern petioles; this distinctive behavior has not been reported for Desmoinesean or older deposits. The arthropod body-fossil record is consistent with this pattern: detritivore groups such as roaches survive the extinction largely intact, whereas other groups such as diverse protorthopterans,'' some of which were most likely herbivorous, experienced a significant extinction.
- OSTI ID:
- 6040945
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
COAL DEPOSITS
PALEONTOLOGY
ILLINOIS BASIN
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ECOLOGY
FOSSILS
INSECTS
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
SWAMPS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ARTHROPODS
ECOSYSTEMS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INVERTEBRATES
MINERAL RESOURCES
PALEOZOIC ERA
RESOURCES
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
WETLANDS
011000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration