Discriminating faunal assemblages and their palaeoecology based on museum collections: the Carboniferous Hurlet and Index
limestones of western Scotland
M. T. Dean
A. W. Owen
A. Bowdler-Hicks
M. C. Akhurst
10.6084/m9.figshare.3454817.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Discriminating_faunal_assemblages_and_their_palaeoecology_based_on_museum_collections_the_Carboniferous_Hurlet_and_Index___limestones_of_western_Scotland/3454817
<p><strong>Synopsis</strong> Historical collections of Scottish Carboniferous macrofossils stored at the British Geological Survey (BGS), Edinburgh include
the sole remaining sources of palaeontological data from numerous localities. Exploratory numerical analyses of such collections
from the Hurlet and Index limestones of Ayrshire compare favourably with published qualitative assessments of faunal assemblages
and palaeoenvironments; demonstrating that old collections can still be used in modern palaeoecological investigations. Macrofaunas
from these formations comprise mainly brachiopods and molluscs and were collected from 67 localities that yielded 20 and 94
samples from the Hurlet and Index limestones respectively. Limitations of the presence/absence data were partly overcome by
consolidation and restriction of aspects of the data set. Seriation indicates the lithological and environmental gradients
of taxa. Cluster analysis reveals groups of samples linked to lithofacies. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of diversity
data derived from the data set in terms of numbers of genera in higher taxa highlights differences in gross taxonomic composition
in terms of trophic structure, lithology and environment.
</p> <p>Supplementary material: lists of localities taxa and sample lithologies used in this study are available at <a href="http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18401">http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18401</a> .
</p>
2016-06-21 12:22:20
taxa
BGS
Index limestones
term
PCA
Principal Components Analysis
Hurlet
British Geological Survey
Discriminating faunal assemblages
sample
locality
Scotland Synopsis Historical collections
Scottish Carboniferous macrofossils
data
Geology