Discrimination of autochthonous vs. allochthonous assemblages in the Eden estuary, fife, Scotland, U.K.

Abstract

A quantitative analysis of molluscan distributions was carried out in the Eden estuary at Fife, aiming at distinguishing between indigenous and transported assemblages among subfossils by using standard criteria such as (1) dispersion, (2) faunal composition and diversity, (3) population density, (4) surface condition of shells and (5) ratio of opposite valves of (sub)fossils. Dead molluscan populations indicate that little postmortem transportation has taken place and that the subfossil assemblages represent accurately the distribution of living populations from which they were derived.