Mapping snails in time: the prospect of elucidating the historical biogeography of the European malacofauna
Preece, R.C. (1991). Mapping snails in time: the prospect of elucidating the historical biogeography of the European malacofauna, in: Meier-Brook, C. (Ed.) (1992). Proceedings of the Tenth International Malacological Congress: Tübingen, 27 August - 2 September 1989. pp. 477-479
In: Meier-Brook, C. (Ed.) (1991). Proceedings of the Tenth International Malacological Congress: Tübingen, 27 August - 2 September 1989. University of Tübingen/Unitas Malacologica: Tübingen. 2 vols. (VI, 636) pp., more
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| Abstract |
The feasibility of producing maps plotting the first arrival and spread of selected molluscan taxa across Europe during the Late-glacial and Holocene is discussed. Jt is suggested that attention should be focussed on terrestrial sites that accumulated in low-energy environments, and in particular on deposits of calcareous tufa. These offer the best potential both in terms of high stratigraphic resolution and from the standpoint of the integrity of the fossil communities themselves. Problems of obtaining conventional radiocarbon dates from sediments lacking organic material have, to some extent, been overcome with the advent of dating using accelerator mass spectrometry, although this opportunity is not yet generally available. A further problem arises from the fact that many Quaternary malacologists are primarily interested in reconstructing former environments, and merely plot ecological summary diagrams without giving the full data. A plea is made either to plot curves for the selected taxa or else to lodge the data in a central archive. |
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