Sensitivity of Taphonomic Signatures to Sample Size, Sieve Size, Damage Scoring System, and Target Taxa

Abstract

Abstract The sensitivity of taphonomic signatures to a battery of common sampling and analytic procedures is tested here using modern bivalve death assemblages from the San Blas Archipelago, Caribbean Panama, to determine (a) the magnitude of methodological artifacts and, thus, the comparability of taphofacies patterns among studies; and (b) the most efficient and robust means for acquiring damage profiles (taphonomic signatures) of death assemblages both ancient and modern. Damage frequency distributions do not stabilize below sample sizes of 120–150 individuals. Using damage to the >8 mm portion of the assemblage as a baseline (interior damage only, fragments included), it is found that qualitative trends among environments (higher damage levels in reefal skeletal gravel versus mud) and the rank-order importance of taphonomic variables per environment (intensity of damage from encrustation, boring, fine-scale alteration, edge-rounding, fragmentation) are robust to most methodological decisions. The exce...