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Bryozoan Studies 2010 pp 187–201Cite as

Seagrass-Associated Bryozoan Communities from the Late Pliocene of the Island of Rhodes (Greece)

Pliocene Seagrass Bryozoans

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences ((LNESS,volume 143))

Abstract

On the island of Rhodes (Greece) the late Pliocene shallow-water siliciclastic deposits of the Kritika Member (Rhodes Formation) contain well-preserved leaves and rhizomes of the Mediterranean endemic marine phanerogam Posidonia oceanica. The leaf moulds are found on the bedding planes of fine-grained sands, whereas the rhizomes are preserved in life position within coarse-grained sediments.

The bryozoan community occurring either on the leaf moulds or as zoarial fragments in the sediment containing them consists of 25 species. Most of them belong to the membraniporiforms, while the cellariiforms are represented by numerous segments. Rare fragments of adeoniform and vinculariiform colonies also occur.

The community of bryozoans associated with the rhizomes comprises 49 species. The most common fragments belong to an adeoniform species, whereas membraniporiforms and cellariiforms are only moderately abundant. The vinculariiforms and celleporiforms are relatively uncommon, whereas the catenicelliforms, lunulitiforms and reteporiforms are scarce.

In the studied beds, bryozoans are the most diverse group of invertebrates and are represented by a total of 58 species, most of them extant. A comparison with present-day Posidonia oceanica meadows shows that many species are common to both seagrass communities. Three extant species are even obligative epiphytes of P. oceanica leaves. Several other species, although not associated exclusively with this marine phanerogam, generally thrive on its leaves and rhizomes.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Paula Desvignes for preparing the material, Arlette Armand for her help with scanning electron microscopy, Noël Podevigne for taking the macrophotographs, and Annie Dureu for logistical support during fieldwork. Yvonne Bone and Maja Novosel provided helpful reviews of an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 5276 CNRS, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Géode, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Pierre Moissette

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  1. Pierre Moissette
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Correspondence to Pierre Moissette .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Christian-Abstrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Luedwig-Meyn-Straße 10, Kiel, 24118, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    Andrej Ernst

  2. Olshausenstr. 40, Kiel, 24098, Germany

    Priska Schäfer

  3. Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senck, Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt, 60325, Germany

    Joachim Scholz

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Moissette, P. (2013). Seagrass-Associated Bryozoan Communities from the Late Pliocene of the Island of Rhodes (Greece). In: Ernst, A., Schäfer, P., Scholz, J. (eds) Bryozoan Studies 2010. Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences, vol 143. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16411-8_13

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