Sol Bayer

• PhD, Dr.
• Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council

El Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario "Dr. Enrique Jorge Schnack" cuenta con más de cuatro décadas de historia. En este tiempo, diferentes investigaciones requirieron de numerosas campañas que implicaron el muestreo de fósiles. Si bien estos materiales se encuentran resguardados, no están catalogados. Contemplando su trayectoria, el...

Predation by drilling gastropods creates a unique scenario because it produces an easily preserved signature of the predation event in shells, commonly known as the trace fossil Oichnus. The drill produced by a muricid or naticid gastropod on prey shells provides evidence of the success or failure of the attack. The presence of drilling behavior in...

Knowing the present is essential for interpreting the past. This is a great Earth Sciences concept that applies to almost every study. But can actualistic taphonomy contribute to the understanding of deep-time? It is well known that rhynchonellid brachiopod species are scarce nowadays, but during Paleozoic times they were a dominant component of th...

La participación de las mujeres en ciencia es, en términos narrativos, una construcción subjetiva y parcial desarrollada en momentos particulares de la historia de la humanidad. Los relatos tradicionales describen a las mujeres científicas como sujetos sumisos, con poca participación, en roles secundarios, o no las mencionan. Cuestionando esta prem...

Both present-day and fossil molluscan assemblages offer an opportunity for a better understanding of the structure and organization of both modern and past benthic communities. In this framework, drill holes are used widely to explore predator–prey interactions. This research focuses on predation marks, especially drill holes, recorded on modern mo...

One of the most abundant species of bivalves found on modern beaches and Quaternary deposits in the San Matías Gulf (Argentinian Patagonia, SW Atlantic Ocean) is Glycymeris longior. Its high abundance and broad geographical distribution turn G. longior into a target species for taphonomical studies. Here, we described the taphonomic signature regis...

Molluscan predators are rarely preserved in Late Pleistocene and Holocene marine sediments from the Canadian High Arctic. Predator-prey interactions in molluscan assemblages recorded as round holes in shells, recognized as the trace fossil Oichnus, are even less well known for Quaternary molluscan assemblages from the High Arctic. Because these bio...

Molluscan death assemblages are useful for reconstructing paleocommunities. In spite that molluscan predators are rarely preserved in Quaternary marine sediments, they provide signals for evaluating predation recorded as round holes in shells, recognized as the trace fossil Oichnus. On the other hand, the bivalve Glycymeris longior is one of the mo...

In high energy habitats, seasonal storms become a press disturbance affecting sediment quality and stability of benthic assemblages in terms of removing organisms from their life positions. Pleistocene clams of Eucallista purpurata from San Antonio Bay (SAB, San Matias Gulf, Patagonia) evidenced variation in shell size and shape with respect to Hol...

It is important to understand the historical precedents of current situations to be able to anticipate where the current global environmental and climatic change may lead. Geo-historical data provide information beyond the limitations of instrumental data. This study aims to reconstruct components of the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental histo...

Amiantis purpurata is a common warm-temperate water bivalve species distributed from southern Brazil to northern Patagonia, Argentina, which has a rich and well preserved fossil record in the San Matías Gulf (SMG) dating back to the late Quaternary. This study aims to establish A. purpurata shells as a new palaeoarchive of past marine conditions in...

Although environmental variability generates differences in the preservation of shell assemblages, intrinsic variations in shell characteristics can confound the effects of environment on preservation. However, several studies proposed that the composition of shell supply only affects the intensity of alteration but not its preservation trend along...

Extant brachiopods have been very little studied, despite being abundant along the Argentine marine platform and southern areas of the Subantarctic region. In this survey, we examined brachiopod assemblages from the Namuncurá MPA/Burdwood Bank area, off southern South America. The material (n = 1203) was recovered from 43 stations ranging in depth...

The shells of several mollusks can provide environmental and climatic information on a seasonal scale. This variability is recorded within the stable oxygen isotope (δ18Oshell) composition of the biogenic shell carbonate. The δ18Oshell values depend on the composition of the sea water (δ18Owater) and changes in water temperature. The bivalve Amiant...

Molluscan faunas are the most common macrofossils recorded in Late Quaternary raised marine deposits from the Canadian High Arctic (Dyke et al., 1996). However, little is known about predator-prey interactions (Aitken & Risk, 1988) since molluscan predators are rarely preserved in raised marine sediments from Axel Heiberg Island (AHI, Canadian High...

Late Quaternary fossil molluscan assemblages are abundant in raised glaciomarine sediments in the Canadian High Arctic (Dyke et al., 1996). It is possible to recognize different kinds of sedimentary environments according to shell preservation patterns that define taphofacies (Kidwell and Flessa, 1996; Behrensmeyer et al., 2000; Zuschin et al., 200...

The Patagonian Continental Shelf (PCS) is a dynamic region characterized by the confluence of two western boundary currents (the Brazil and Malvinas currents) and the presence of several oceanographic fronts, giving rise to a large and rich biological area. In this study we analyze the distribution pattern of brachiopod assemblages along a latitudi...

Epibiosis is the association between two or more living organisms belonging to the same or different species as a result of surface limitation. Besides the ecological significance , epibiosis is of interest in paleoecological studies of both recent and fossil organisms . Brachiopods provide an ideal biogenic substrate for studying paleoecological q...

The aim of this study is to describe and interpret the paleoenvironmental history of the San Matiás Gulf (SMG), in northern Patagonia, Argentina, which is associated with possible biotic and abiotic changes that occurred during the late Quaternary. In this regard, a taphonomic (disarticulation, right/left valve ratio, fragmentation, abrasion, teeth...

The modern Antarctic bivalve fauna has long been considered as unusually small-sized or 'dwarf'. However the validity of this pattern and the underlying causes remain little studied. We used a worldwide compilation of body sizes of 5185 bivalve species across 17 major biogeographic provinces to show that Antarctic species are statistically smaller...

Amiantis purpurata shells from the San Matı´as Gulf (SMG) were analysed in order to compare both morphology and size throughout the late Quaternary in relation to environmental changes. Shells from modern beaches, Holocene marine assemblages (late Holocene, 3630 +100 years BP) and interglacial Pleistocene marine assemblages (MIS 5, 100 ka years BP)...

Several previous studies have underscored the importance of how intrinsic variations in shell characteristics affect the final taphonomic attributes of shell deposits. Other studies have shown that the composition of shell supply only affects the intensity of each attribute but not its rank-order. Although these are promising results for taphofacie...

The purple clam Amiantis purpurata (Lamarck) is a warm-temperate species which inhabits the shallow waters from Espiritu Santo (Brazil) to northern Patagonia. It is understood to be one of the few survivors of the middle–late Miocene faunal turnover which was characterized by the appearance of new taxa, most of them living today along the Argentine...

En nuestro equipo de investigación utilizamos los exoesqueletos calcáreos (valvas) de los moluscos de Patagonia y Antártida como indicadores múltiples o “multi-proxy” para estudiar los ecosistemas y los ambientes y climas del pasado reciente, que corresponden al período Cuaternario. Uno de los estudios que realizamos es el análisis de marcas de int...

The study area in southern South America comprises a very extensive geographic area covering more than 2,000 km and involving two distinct biogeographic areas. This chapter focuses on faunistic changes within and between provinces, faunistic shifts and the extinction of particular species during the Quaternary.

Taphonomy is the “science of the laws of burial” (Efremov 1940); it involves the transition of animal remains from the biosphere to the lithosphere. In this chapter we refer to various taphonomic attributes (e.g., fragmentation and abrasion, among others) by looking at examples in different environments and different taxa; and we explain the advanc...

Carbonate shells have long been used as a proxy for paleoenvironmental conditions. In particular, oxygen and carbon stable isotopes from carbonate mollusk shells have been used for reconstructing water temperatures, the timing of upwelling events and changes in salinity. In this chapter, isotopic analysis was performed on shells of one particular s...

This chapter is focused on the analysis of the shell microstructure of different taxa and on how this information can be used for paleoenvironmental interpretations. A physic-chemical analysis on Modern, Holocene and Pleistocene shells of the purple clam Amiantis purpurata helps discern the structural changes during early diagenesis. In addition, t...

Molluscan death assemblages are useful for reconstructing paleocommunities and can also provide signals for evaluating predation and other interactions. This chapter gives examples of biotic interactions that can be recorded in mollusk shells. We will provide data on the interaction between drilling predators and their shelled prey, and will also r...

Morphological variations in bivalve shells are increasingly the focus of diverse studies that bridge palaeontology and ecology. Shape in bivalves is a key morphological characteristic that reflects both phylogenetic history and life habits. This chapter is centered on the different techniques that can be used to evaluate size and shape variability...

As mollusks grow, their shells become biogeochemical records of the environmental and climatic conditions experienced throughout their lifetime. Following the ideas developed in Chap. 8, in this chapter stable isotopes are treated in conjunction with individual growth in the selected fossil specimens of different bivalves.

Mollusk shells are the most common remains in Quaternary marine deposits throughout the Argentinean coastline and southern South America. They are well preserved and, despite the taphonomic bias (i.e., the loss of soft body taxa and post burial processes), Quaternary mollusk assemblages retain useful information about the life habits and habitats o...

Modern to Pleistocene Amiantis purpurata shells collected in Bahı´a San Antonio (Patagonia, Argentina) were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical and electron microscopy, electron microprobe analyses, and microindentation, in order to characterize early diagenetic changes and mechanical resistance. The sole crystalline phase is twinned aragon...

Amiantis purpurata is a typical warm-temperate water species distributed from southern Brazil to northern Patagonia, Argentina. Recent and well preserved fossil specimens were recovered from San Matías Gulf in northern Patagonia. Holocene (shell age 3630 ±100 years BP) and interglacial Pleistocene (MIS 5, 100 ka years BP) marine sediments were used...

Glycymeris sanmatiensis n. sp. is described and compared with G. longior (Sowerby, 1832) and G. undata (Linnaeus, 1758). Its diagnosis is: shell small, subcircular, valves weakly inflated. Posterior margin truncated. Ligament area asymmetrical. Hinge plate wide. Inner ventral margin wide and smooth between pallial line and crenulations. The new spe...

This paper evaluates if the bivalve Tawera gayi from southern South America represents an opportunity to test ecological variability and environmental changes during the last 6000 years in southern South America. For this purpose, we analyse both modern and fossil (mid-to-late Holocene) T. gayi shells from Tierra del Fuego using different technique...

In the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, the marine Holocene (ca. 8000 years BP) is represented by littoral deposits, mostly up to 10 m a.s.l. raised marine terraces, extending along the modern coast, and characterized by the presence of mollusk shells, mainly bivalves and gastropods. In this work, which is focused on Holocene mollusk assemblages fr...

Feline coprolites were examined for parasites with the aim of studying ancient infections that occurred in the Patagonian region during the Holocene period. Eggs compatible to Trichuris sp., Calodium sp., Eucoleus sp., Nematodirus sp., Oesophagostomum sp. (Nematoda), Monoecocestus sp. (Cestoda) and Eimeria macusaniensis (Coccidia) were recovered fr...