New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?

Neoichnological observations help refine paleoichnological records. The present study reports extensive observations on the distribution, morphology, occurrence and association of burrows and fecal pellets of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor in the Kundalika Estuary on the west coast of India. Our...

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Main Authors: Kantimati G Kulkarni, Rajani Panchang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4595207?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-4fd733db893846ff9bf6a84281ca49512020-11-24T21:27:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011010e013993310.1371/journal.pone.0139933New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?Kantimati G KulkarniRajani PanchangNeoichnological observations help refine paleoichnological records. The present study reports extensive observations on the distribution, morphology, occurrence and association of burrows and fecal pellets of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor in the Kundalika Estuary on the west coast of India. Our holistic study of these modern-day traces suggests it to be a complex trace arising from domichnial, fodinichnial and possibly pascichnial behavior of polychaetes. The study for the first time reports extensive fecal pellet production, distribution and their preservation as thick stacks in modern estuarine environment. These observations testify the fossilization potential of pellets and provide an explanation to their origin in the geological record. Their occurrence as strings associated with mounds not only suggests pascichnial behaviour of polychaetes but also allows the assignment of post-Paleozoic Tomaculum to the activity of polychaete worms. The production of fecal pellets in such large quantities plays a major role in increasing the average grain size of the substrate of these estuarine tidal flats, thereby improving aeration within the substrate.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4595207?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kantimati G Kulkarni
Rajani Panchang
spellingShingle Kantimati G Kulkarni
Rajani Panchang
New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
PLoS ONE
author_facet Kantimati G Kulkarni
Rajani Panchang
author_sort Kantimati G Kulkarni
title New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
title_short New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
title_full New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
title_fullStr New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
title_full_unstemmed New Insights into Polychaete Traces and Fecal Pellets: Another Complex Ichnotaxon?
title_sort new insights into polychaete traces and fecal pellets: another complex ichnotaxon?
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2015-01-01
description Neoichnological observations help refine paleoichnological records. The present study reports extensive observations on the distribution, morphology, occurrence and association of burrows and fecal pellets of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor in the Kundalika Estuary on the west coast of India. Our holistic study of these modern-day traces suggests it to be a complex trace arising from domichnial, fodinichnial and possibly pascichnial behavior of polychaetes. The study for the first time reports extensive fecal pellet production, distribution and their preservation as thick stacks in modern estuarine environment. These observations testify the fossilization potential of pellets and provide an explanation to their origin in the geological record. Their occurrence as strings associated with mounds not only suggests pascichnial behaviour of polychaetes but also allows the assignment of post-Paleozoic Tomaculum to the activity of polychaete worms. The production of fecal pellets in such large quantities plays a major role in increasing the average grain size of the substrate of these estuarine tidal flats, thereby improving aeration within the substrate.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4595207?pdf=render
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