Seagrass-Associated Molluscan and Fish Communities from the Early Pleistocene of the Island of Rhodes (Greece). (January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Koskeridou, Efterpi; Thivaiou, Danae; Giamali, Christina; Agiadi, Konstantina; Mantzouka, Dimitra
• Is Part Of: IOP conference series. Volume 221(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Subjects: Earth sciences -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Congresses; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 550.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/221/1/012050
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-1307

Abstract

Abstract: Well-preserved leaves and rhizomes of the Mediterranean endemic marine angiosperm Posidonia oceanica and the rich associated mollusc and fish fauna are contained in the early Pleistocene shallow siliciclastic sediments of the Kritika Formation of the island of Rhodes (Greece). The leaf moulds are preserved in fine-grained sands, whereas the rhizomes are found in situ within coarse-grained sediments. The associated molluscan fauna includes 79 species, 47 gastropods and 32 bivalves, most of them extant. The rhizome-associated community comprises 49 species and the leaves-associated community includes 30 species. Small gastropods grazing on microalgae (Rissoidae, Cerithiidae, Trochidae) are the most abundant elements of the fauna, however carnivorous gastropods (Nassariidae, Naticidae, Muricidae) are also diverse. Among the bivalves Lucinidae (e.g., Lucinella ) numerically dominate the deeper infauna and other chemosymbiont bivalves, as Ungulinidae ( Diplodonta ) are also common. Although many species are not associated exclusively with this seagrass and they may occur in other environments as well, they generally thrive on P . oceanica leaves and rhizomes. The Posidonia oceanica meadows were also inhabited by several characteristic fish species which thrive in the seagrass meadows of the eastern Mediterranean until today. The studied fauna is the first reported from the early Pleistocene of Greece and shows similarities to the modern counterparts of Posidonia oceanica meadows, providing new data on the resilience of seagrass ecosystems to environmental change in general.