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Evolutionary Patterns in the Reef Coral Siderastrea During the Mio-Pliocene of the Dominican Republic." MS (Master of Science) Thesis, University of Iowa, 2005

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Evolutionary Patterns in the Reef Coral Siderastrea During the Mio-Pliocene of the Dominican Republic. University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations 2005 Evolutionary patterns in the reef coral Siderastrea during the Mio- Pliocene of the Dominican Republic Brian Robert Beck University of Iowa Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Geology Commons Copyright 2005 Brian Robert Beck This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/94 Recommended Citation Beck, Brian Robert. "Evolutionary patterns in the reef coral Siderastrea during the Mio-Pliocene of the Dominican Republic." MS (Master of Science) thesis, University of Iowa, 2005. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.psw64cdj Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Geology Commons EVOLUTIONARY PATTERNS IN THE REEF CORAL SIDERASTREA DURING THE MIO-PLIOCENE OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC by Brian Robert Beck A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Geoscience in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa December 2005 Thesis Supervisor: Professor Ann F. Budd Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL _______________________ MASTER'S THESIS _______________ This is to certify that the Master's thesis of Brian Robert Beck has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Science degree in Geoscience at the December 2005 graduation. Thesis Committee: ___________________________________ Ann F. Budd, Thesis Supervisor ___________________________________ Jonathan M. Adrain ___________________________________ Christopher A. Brochu ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the following people for their help during this research: Dr. Ann Budd for assistance in fieldwork, data analyses, and comments and suggestions on several drafts; Dr. Jonathan Adrain and Dr. Christopher Brochu for helpful comments and suggestions during the editorial process; Kay Saville for help with thin-sections. I would also like to then the University of Iowa Geoscience department and the Geoscience Littlefield Fund. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Systematics........................................................................................................2 Localities...........................................................................................................4 METHODS AND MATERIALS ........................................................................................7 Sampling...........................................................................................................7 Morphometrics..................................................................................................8 RESULTS .........................................................................................................................11 Species recognition.........................................................................................11 Stratigraphic ranges........................................................................................11 Morphologic change through time..................................................................12 Comparison of fossil and modern species......................................................12 Comparison of morphometrics ......................................................................13 DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................14 FUTURE WORK...............................................................................................................17 CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................................19 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................86 APPENDIX A. LANDMARK DESCRIPTION ..............................................................81 APPENDIX B. SAMPLE INFORMATION ....................................................................83 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Morphologic characters distinguishing eight Caribbean species of Siderastrea......73 2. A list of the localities sampled, the number of samples collected, the Formation name, the river the samples were collected from, and the age of samples collected from those localities. ...................................................................74 3. Eigenvalues displaying the percent variation covered by each of the 3 discriminant functions...............................................................................................75 4. Wilks' Lambda chart displaying the significance of each of the three discriminant functions...............................................................................................76 5. Mahalanobis distance matrix reporting the significance between groups................77 6. Structure matrix for the discriminant analysis displaying the significant variables for each discriminant function..................................................................78 7. Results of the Kruskal-Wallis test of the three known DR Morphospecies throughout the Dominican Republic formations......................................................80 A1. Landmarks taken on transverse thin-sections of corallites of Siderastrea.............82 B1. List of specimens analyzed in morphometric analyses...........................................84 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. An example of transverse section through a corallite of a species of Siderastrea................................................................................................................21 2. Map of the study area in the Dominican Republic with the sampled rivers color coded................................................................................................................23 3. Comparison of age-depth plots of the Río Gurabo and Río Cana sections based on existing biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic (Gurabo section only) data............................................................................................................................25 4. A stratigraphic column of Rio Cana with NMB localities marked at their position in the stratigraphic column..........................................................................27 5. A stratigraphic column of Rio Gurabo with NMB localities marked at their position in the stratigraphic column.........................................................................29 6. Locality map for Arroyo Bellaco.............................................................................31 7. A stratigraphic column of Rio Yaque del Norte with NMB localities marked at their position in the stratigraphic column ...............................................................33 8. A composite stratigraphic column for each of the sampled rivers of the Northern Dominican Republic with the rivers indicated along the top...................35 9. Transverse sections of a colony of Siderastrea showing a close up view of the landmark scheme used in the 2-D geometric morphometric analysis.....................37 10. Transverse sections of a colony of Siderastrea showing 1/12 of the corallite used for landmark measurement in the 2-D geometric morphometric analysis......39 11. A photograph of a transverse section through a corallite of DR Morphospecies 1................................................................................................................................41 12. A photograph of a transverse section through a corallite of DR Morphospecies 3................................................................................................................................43 13. A photograph of a transverse section through a corallite of DR Morphospecies 4................................................................................................................................45 14. A photograph of a transverse section through a corallite of DR Morphospecies 2................................................................................................................................47 v 15. Scatterplot of discriminant function 1 vs. discriminant function 2 of DR Morphospecies 1-4. Groups are labeled by DR Morphospecies.............................49 16. Scatterplot of discriminant function 1 vs. discriminant function 2 of DR Morphospecies 1-4. Groups are labeled by formation............................................51 17. Boxplots illustrating the variation of discriminant function 1 throughout the sampled formations for DR Morphospecies 1, 3, and 4..........................................53 18. Boxplots illustrating the variation of discriminant function 2 throughout the sampled formations for DR Morphospecies 1, 3, and 4..........................................55 19. Boxplots illustrating the variation of variable x20 throughout the sampled formations for DR Morphospecies 1, 3, and 4.........................................................57 20. Boxplots illustrating the variation of variable y4 throughout the sampled formations for DR Morphospecies 1, 3, and 4.........................................................59
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