Abstract
Although bryozoans are a diverse phylum of aquatic invertebrates with a rich fossil record, very little has been written about bryozoan faunas from the latest Pleistocene at a time of rapid global change when temperatures increased dramatically and the sea-level rose. Two species of cyclostome and eight species of cheilostome bryozoans are here described from the late Devensian Clyde Clay Formation of Greenock, Scotland, based on historical material in the collections of the NHM, UK. All are illustrated for the first time from this deposit using scanning electron microscopy. Three of the species (Tubulipora cf. marisalbi, Rhamphostomella radiatula and Schizomavella porifera) are unknown from the seas around Scotland at the present-day but occur in colder waters to the north. This is consistent with the poleward retreat of cold-water species as seawater temperatures increased at the end of the Pleistocene.
Highlights
Concomitant with global warming and facilitated by human-related dispersal mechanisms, the last few decades have seen the expansion of the ranges of several bryozoan species into higher latitudes
Comparing the composition of fossil bryozoan faunas formed at this time with those of the present-day in the same region has the potential for identifying local extinctions of cold-adapted species
Pleistocene bryozoans from the late Devensian Clyde Clay Formation of Garvel Park, Greenock on the Firth of Clyde are described for the first time using historical material in the collections of the NHMUK
Summary
Concomitant with global warming and facilitated by human-related dispersal mechanisms, the last few decades have seen the expansion of the ranges of several bryozoan species into higher latitudes. These include warm-water fouling species, notably Bugula neritina, Watersipora subatra and Schizoporella japonica, which have begun to appear in harbours increasingly further north in the Atlantic waters of northwest Europe [1,2,3]. A further expectation is that the ranges of cold-water bryozoan species will have contracted polewards as sea temperatures increased, causing local extinctions.
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