Molluscan Diversity of the Florida Keys:a faunal project based on original collections,

museum holdings and literature data

Sponsored in part by NSF-PEET DEB-9978119

and the Comer Science & Education Foundation

Rüdiger Bieler & Paula M. Mikkelsen Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois,

U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION

The Florida Keys are of great interest zoogeographically,

comprising temperate to tropical elements of the

northwestern Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the

Caribbean Sea. A region with booming tourist, sport-

fishing, and diving industries, impacted by runoffs from the

likewise stressed Everglades, and modified by massive

bridge and causeway construction and human sprawl, an

analysis is sorely needed by the sanctuary management

toward their future attempts to assess the effectiveness of

enforced preservation measures (such as closing certain

areas to fisheries or limiting public access). This project’s

combination of region-wide qualitative sampling, thorough

and rapid collecting techniques, “data mining” of museum

collections and literature resources, as well as a large-scale

transect project along the island chain, have to date nearly

tripled the number of marine mollusk species known to live

in the Florida Keys to about 1,700, and given insight into

their distribution and ecology in the region. Dated museum

records are used to investigate occurrence/ distributional

patterns over the past 100+ years and are indicative of

recent introductions and losses.

MONOGRAPHIC RESULTS

ABSTRACT: Before molluscan biodiversity of a particular

region can be compared to others, before changes can be

monitored, and before steps can be designed to preserve

particular species, it is necessary to assess the existing (and,

if possible, past) fauna. Because of the often small size and

cryptic nature of the animals involved, and the specialized

knowledge necessary to recognize them, there are few

geographic regions for which sufficient baseline data have

been assembled. A combination of new field collecting with

the comparative study of historic museum collections and the

analysis of existing literature can not only create such

baseline data, but also reconstruct historic diversity

data. Such an effort is underway for the molluscan fauna of

the Florida Keys, an island chain and associated habitats at

the southern tip of peninsular Florida that includes the

second largest U.S. marine sanctuary with nearly 10,000

km2. This project’s combination of region-wide qualitative

sampling, thorough and rapid collecting techniques, "data

mining" of museum collections and literature resources, as

well as a large-scale transect project along the island chain,

have to date nearly tripled the number of marine mollusk

species known to live in the Florida Keys, to about 1,700, and

given insight into their distribution and ecology in the

region. Dated museum records are used to investigate

occurrence/ distributional patterns over the past 100+ years

and are indicative of recent introductions and losses in this

region. A first project phase focusing on bivalve diversity

was recently completed, resulting in published faunal

analyses and critical catalogues, as well as descriptions and

extensive photographic documentation of nearly 400

species. The considerable clade richness (with half of the

world’s bivalve families represented in the regional fauna)

also allowed conducting an exemplar-based comparative

survey of bivalve morphology and anatomy, the focus of a

forthcoming book-length treatment.

DATA-GATHERING METHODS> Field collecting (shore/small boat/large vessel; hand-collecting,

SCUBA, dredging, grabbing, suction-sampling): 750+ stations

> Museum studies & private collections: 9,000+ lots

> Literature review (books, journals, newsletters, agency reports): 1,200 titles

> Species-record databasing: 36,000+ records

GOALS> Develop a complete qualitative species-level account of a

molluscan fauna (from fieldwork, collections & literature)

> Provide baseline data for western Atlantic zoogeographic

studies (based on taxonomic research, museum vouchers,

photographic documentation)

> Recreate occurrence/distribution information for past decades

(and test utility of literature information and museum collections

in reconstructing historic events)

> Document ecological/anatomical information

> Explore fidelity of death assemblages

> Advise Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary management

18 cm

A new invader: Indo-Pacific gryphaeid Hyotissa hyotis

Several years of sorting effort

Fieldwork with student

participation

Formal Training Workshops

From a forthcoming publication on the Florida Keys Bivalvia fauna [Princeton University Press]

The project region

Photographic documentation

Some recent project publications:

Bieler R. & P. M. Mikkelsen, 2003. The cruises of the Eolis -- John B. Henderson's mollusc collections off the Florida Keys, 1910-1916. American Malacological Bulletin, 17(1-2): 125-140.

Bieler, R. & P. M. Mikkelsen (eds.), 2004. Bivalve Studies in the Florida Keys, Proceedings of the International Marine Bivalve Workshop, Long Key, Florida, July 2002. Malacologia, 46(2), 386 pp.

Bieler, R. & P. M. Mikkelsen, 2004. Marine bivalves of the Florida Keys: a qualitative faunal analysis based on original collections, museum holdings and literature data. Malacologia, 46(2): 503-544.

Bieler, R., P. M. Mikkelsen, T. Lee & D. Ó Foighil, 2004. Discovery of the Indo-Pacific oyster Hyotissa hyotis (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Florida Keys (Bivalvia: Gryphaeidae). Molluscan Research, 24(3): 149-159.

Mikkelsen, P. M. & R. Bieler, 2003. Systematic revision of the western Atlantic file clams, Lima and Ctenoides (Bivalvia: Limoida: Limidae). Invertebrate Systematics, 17: 667-710.

Mikkelsen, P. M. & R. Bieler, 2004. Critical catalog and annotated bibliography of marine bivalve records for the Florida Keys. Malacologia, 46(2): 545-623.

Shell plate and anatomical “on the half-shell” sketch (Pectinidae)

In situ photography (Veneridae)

Photographs of living animals (Limidae)