The evolution of infaunal communities and sedimentary fabrics.

Abstract

The depth of complete reworking of sediment increases from essentially zero in the Ordovician to at least 5cm in the Devonian. Evolution of infaunal communities over geological time resembles short-term ecological succession of modern marine communities on granular substrates. Functional group amensalism influences the distribution of organisms and composition of modern benthic communities and may also direct community evolution. The trophic structure and biological interactions in ancient communities may be most closely duplicated in low- or intermediate-successional stages of modern communities.-from Authors