Ecospace Utilization and Guilds in Marine Communities through the Phanerozoic

Does the ecological theater influence the staging of the evolutionary play? What roles do biotic interactions have in influencing evolutionary patterns? This chapter presents a system of ecologic analysis for paleocommunities that reveals some relationships between the utilization of ecospace and change in diversity through time. The analysis is restricted to marine shelf faunas. The data base for marine faunas is the most voluminous available. These faunas have been emphasized in community paleoecology because of the relatively complete fossil record of shallow marine habitats. Recent studies summarizing diversity patterns for the Phanerozoic have also concentrated on the marine realm.