Journal article
A database approach to studies of molluscan taxonomy, biogeography and diversity, with examples from western Atlantic marine gastropods
American malacological bulletin, Vol.10(2), pp.257-266
01 Jan 1993
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
A system of data fields and conventions is introduced that will allow workers on any group of mollusks to build interactive databases documenting classifications, synonymies, geographic and bathymetric ranges, and other summary information at the species level. This system is used to build a database which is the first comprehensive catalogue of Recent Western Atlantic gastropods ever assembled with geographic coverage extending from Greenland to Antarctica. As of January 1993, the database contained 8370 records, of which 3988 represent currently recognized species, 3491 are synonyms, 157 are nomina dubia and the remainder are misidentifications, misspellings, invalidly published or extralimital. There are 3103 currently recognized species of tropical Western Atlantic gastropods (35 degree N to 24 degree S); 2641 of these had been named by 1971, when Keen documented 2438 gastropod species in the tropical Eastern Pacific. The common perception that the tropical Western Atlantic fauna is depauperate compared to the Eastern Pacific cannot be supported. Faunal lists corrected for synonymies, variant generic combinations and misidentifications were extracted from the database for eight areas in the tropical Western Atlantic. These are eastern and western Florida, Yucatan, Panama, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands Antilles and northern Brazil. To correct for regional collecting biases, species smaller than 5 mm, those occurring only deeper than 50 meters, and those lacking external shells were excluded from the lists. In 28 pairwise comparisons among the standardized lists, 27 showed faunal similarities greater than 50%. Western Florida, which lacks shallow reefal habitats, had faunal similarities lower than did eastern Florida, which has these habitats. Habitat availability seems as important as geographic distance in determining faunal similarity within the tropical Western Atlantic. None of the eight regions had more than 4% endemic species. Although species tend to be widespread within the tropical Western Atlantic, only 20% are known from other biogeographic provinces.
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Details
- Title
- A database approach to studies of molluscan taxonomy, biogeography and diversity, with examples from western Atlantic marine gastropods
- Creators
- G Rosenberg
- Publication Details
- American malacological bulletin, Vol.10(2), pp.257-266
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES); Malacology
- Identifiers
- 991019184039504721
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InCites Highlights
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- Web of Science research areas
- Marine & Freshwater Biology
- Zoology