Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK

Table of Contents - 2000 - Volume 80, Issue 06  


Short Communication

Life history and environmental inference through retrospective morphometric analysis of bryozoans: a preliminary study

Aaron  O'Dea a1 and Beth  Okamura a2c1
a1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK, E-mail: aaronodea@yahoo.com
a2 School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 228, Reading, RG6 6AJ, UK

Abstract

A preliminary comparative analysis of colony growth and zooid size in the perennial bryozoan Flustra foliacea (Bryozoa: Cheilostomatida) reveals reduced colony growth in the Bay of Fundy relative to growth in the Menai Straits and the Skagerrak, while seasonal fluctuations in zooid size are in synchrony with temperature regimes. Such retrospective morphometric analyses may allow inferences of primary productivity and thermal regimes and provide insights into the life histories of both Recent and fossil bryozoans.

(Received December 6 1999)
(Accepted June 17 2000)


Correspondence:
c1 e-mail: b.okamura@reading.ac.uk