Extinction, an important agent in macroevolution, has been predicted to destabilize or even reverse trends in predator-prey dynamics by eliminating some of the specialized predators and prey with energetically costly defenses. Temporal changes in traces of unsuccessful shell-breaking predatory attacks on Varicorbula sp. record change in site preference by durophagous predators before and after a regional Plio-Pleistocene extinction in Florida. Before this event, durophagous predators attacked both the ventral and posterior part of the prey shell in similar frequency (p=0.886), whereas after the crisis, predation was mostly concentrated at the ventral portion (p<0.001). This extinction event therefore appears to have reduced the collective prey handling diversity among surviving predators and demonstrates mechanistically how extinctions can disrupt selection regimes and influence subsequent evolution.
Discipline Categories: Paleontology, Paleoecology/Taphonomy, Paleontology, Diversity, Extinction, OriginationPreferred Presentation Type: Poster