Effects of late Cenozoic sea-level fluctuations on the bivalve faunas of tropical oceanic islands

Abstract

The frequent late Cenozoic glacial ages were accompanied by sea-level falls of 100–150 m amplitude. These falls stranded the complex inner-reef platforms and lagoons of tropical Pacific islands, while outer-reef-slope habitats persisted, although displaced downslope. The effects of glacial regressions on bivalves were studied by examining the zonation of species across reef systems and species composition on tectonically uplifted islands, islands with, effectively, local low sea stands. I show that qualitative habitat loss (the stranding of inner-reef habitats) was responsible for the local extinction of about one-third of the bivalve species that inhabit central Pacific islands during high sea stands, whereas quantitative loss of habitat area and climatic effects were inconsequential. Soft-sediment habitats, and consequently soft-bottom bivalves, were more drastically affected by sea-level fluctuations than were hard-bottom habitats and bivalves.Although many bivalve species were extirpated in the central Pacific during low sea stands, they survived in the western Pacific, where the different geomorphology of many marine systems provided refugia for lagoonal species. Thus, a large proportion of Pacific bivalve species has very dynamic distributions, undergoing great range reductions and expansions with falls and rises of sea level, and much of the present central Pacific lagoonal fauna is of Holocene age. Several implications of these findings are discussed.