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Originally published in Science Express on 12 June 2003
Science 18 July 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5631, pp. 358 - 360
DOI: 10.1126/science.1085075
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Reports

Estimating the Rock Volume Bias in Paleobiodiversity Studies

James S. Crampton,1* Alan G. Beu,1 Roger A. Cooper,1 Craig M. Jones,1 Bruce Marshall,2 Phillip A. Maxwell3

To interpret changes in biodiversity through geological time, it is necessary first to correct for biases in sampling effort related to variations in the exposure of rocks and recovery of fossils with age. Data from New Zealand indicate that outcrop area is likely to be a reliable proxy of rock volume in both stable cratonic regions, where the paleobiodiversity record is strongly correlated with relative sea level, and on tectonically active margins. In contrast, another potential proxy, the number of rock formations, is a poor predictor of outcrop area or sampling effort in the New Zealand case.

1 Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Post Office Box 30-368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. 2 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Post Office Box 467, Wellington, New Zealand. 3 Bathgates Road, R.D. 10, Waimate, South Canterbury, New Zealand.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.crampton{at}gns.cri.nz

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