molluscan diversity of the florida keys
TRANSCRIPT
Molluscan Diversity of the Florida Keys:a faunal project based on original collections,
museum holdings and literature data
Sponsored in part by NSF-PEET DEB-9978119
and the Comer Science & Education Foundation
Rüdiger Bieler & Paula M. Mikkelsen Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois,
U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
The Florida Keys are of great interest zoogeographically,
comprising temperate to tropical elements of the
northwestern Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Caribbean Sea. A region with booming tourist, sport-
fishing, and diving industries, impacted by runoffs from the
likewise stressed Everglades, and modified by massive
bridge and causeway construction and human sprawl, an
analysis is sorely needed by the sanctuary management
toward their future attempts to assess the effectiveness of
enforced preservation measures (such as closing certain
areas to fisheries or limiting public access). This project’s
combination of region-wide qualitative sampling, thorough
and rapid collecting techniques, “data mining” of museum
collections and literature resources, as well as a large-scale
transect project along the island chain, have to date nearly
tripled the number of marine mollusk species known to live
in the Florida Keys to about 1,700, and given insight into
their distribution and ecology in the region. Dated museum
records are used to investigate occurrence/ distributional
patterns over the past 100+ years and are indicative of
recent introductions and losses.
MONOGRAPHIC RESULTS
ABSTRACT: Before molluscan biodiversity of a particular
region can be compared to others, before changes can be
monitored, and before steps can be designed to preserve
particular species, it is necessary to assess the existing (and,
if possible, past) fauna. Because of the often small size and
cryptic nature of the animals involved, and the specialized
knowledge necessary to recognize them, there are few
geographic regions for which sufficient baseline data have
been assembled. A combination of new field collecting with
the comparative study of historic museum collections and the
analysis of existing literature can not only create such
baseline data, but also reconstruct historic diversity
data. Such an effort is underway for the molluscan fauna of
the Florida Keys, an island chain and associated habitats at
the southern tip of peninsular Florida that includes the
second largest U.S. marine sanctuary with nearly 10,000
km2. This project’s combination of region-wide qualitative
sampling, thorough and rapid collecting techniques, "data
mining" of museum collections and literature resources, as
well as a large-scale transect project along the island chain,
have to date nearly tripled the number of marine mollusk
species known to live in the Florida Keys, to about 1,700, and
given insight into their distribution and ecology in the
region. Dated museum records are used to investigate
occurrence/ distributional patterns over the past 100+ years
and are indicative of recent introductions and losses in this
region. A first project phase focusing on bivalve diversity
was recently completed, resulting in published faunal
analyses and critical catalogues, as well as descriptions and
extensive photographic documentation of nearly 400
species. The considerable clade richness (with half of the
world’s bivalve families represented in the regional fauna)
also allowed conducting an exemplar-based comparative
survey of bivalve morphology and anatomy, the focus of a
forthcoming book-length treatment.
DATA-GATHERING METHODS> Field collecting (shore/small boat/large vessel; hand-collecting,
SCUBA, dredging, grabbing, suction-sampling): 750+ stations
> Museum studies & private collections: 9,000+ lots
> Literature review (books, journals, newsletters, agency reports): 1,200 titles
> Species-record databasing: 36,000+ records
GOALS> Develop a complete qualitative species-level account of a
molluscan fauna (from fieldwork, collections & literature)
> Provide baseline data for western Atlantic zoogeographic
studies (based on taxonomic research, museum vouchers,
photographic documentation)
> Recreate occurrence/distribution information for past decades
(and test utility of literature information and museum collections
in reconstructing historic events)
> Document ecological/anatomical information
> Explore fidelity of death assemblages
> Advise Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary management
18 cm
A new invader: Indo-Pacific gryphaeid Hyotissa hyotis
Several years of sorting effort
Fieldwork with student
participation
Formal Training Workshops
From a forthcoming publication on the Florida Keys Bivalvia fauna [Princeton University Press]
The project region
Photographic documentation
Some recent project publications:
Bieler R. & P. M. Mikkelsen, 2003. The cruises of the Eolis -- John B. Henderson's mollusc collections off the Florida Keys, 1910-1916. American Malacological Bulletin, 17(1-2): 125-140.
Bieler, R. & P. M. Mikkelsen (eds.), 2004. Bivalve Studies in the Florida Keys, Proceedings of the International Marine Bivalve Workshop, Long Key, Florida, July 2002. Malacologia, 46(2), 386 pp.
Bieler, R. & P. M. Mikkelsen, 2004. Marine bivalves of the Florida Keys: a qualitative faunal analysis based on original collections, museum holdings and literature data. Malacologia, 46(2): 503-544.
Bieler, R., P. M. Mikkelsen, T. Lee & D. Ó Foighil, 2004. Discovery of the Indo-Pacific oyster Hyotissa hyotis (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Florida Keys (Bivalvia: Gryphaeidae). Molluscan Research, 24(3): 149-159.
Mikkelsen, P. M. & R. Bieler, 2003. Systematic revision of the western Atlantic file clams, Lima and Ctenoides (Bivalvia: Limoida: Limidae). Invertebrate Systematics, 17: 667-710.
Mikkelsen, P. M. & R. Bieler, 2004. Critical catalog and annotated bibliography of marine bivalve records for the Florida Keys. Malacologia, 46(2): 545-623.
Shell plate and anatomical “on the half-shell” sketch (Pectinidae)
In situ photography (Veneridae)
Photographs of living animals (Limidae)