Biovolume Revisited: A Relative Diversity Index for Paleological Analyses
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Date
1981-09
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Abstract
A new application of the biovolume abundance index is proposed for relative diversity demography in paleoecological analyses. Use of this technique will improve confidence in data validity and solve the following inadequacies of other numerical census techniques: all groups are treated equally, samples from different lithologies can be meaningfully compared, colonial and solitary organisms are treated equally, whole and fragmentary fossils are treated equally, and time averaging effects are assumed. Biovolume is the paleontological analog of biomass, and it is a measure of the relative amount of energy expended by organisms to secrete skeletal material that has been incorporated into the rock record.
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Author Institution: Wright State University
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The Ohio Journal of Science. v81, n5-6 (September-November, 1981), 268-274