| Title |
Repeated mass strandings of Miocene marine mammals from Atacama Region of Chile point to sudden death at sea
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, April 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1098/rspb.2013.3316 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Nicholas D. Pyenson, Carolina S. Gutstein, James F. Parham, Jacobus P. Le Roux, Catalina Carreño Chavarría, Holly Little, Adam Metallo, Vincent Rossi, Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro, Jorge Velez-Juarbe, Cara M. Santelli, David Rubilar Rogers, Mario A. Cozzuol, Mario E. Suárez |
| Abstract |
Marine mammal mass strandings have occurred for millions of years, but their origins defy singular explanations. Beyond human causes, mass strandings have been attributed to herding behaviour, large-scale oceanographic fronts and harmful algal blooms (HABs). Because algal toxins cause organ failure in marine mammals, HABs are the most common mass stranding agent with broad geographical and widespread taxonomic impact. Toxin-mediated mortalities in marine food webs have the potential to occur over geological timescales, but direct evidence for their antiquity has been lacking. Here, we describe an unusually dense accumulation of fossil marine vertebrates from Cerro Ballena, a Late Miocene locality in Atacama Region of Chile, preserving over 40 skeletons of rorqual whales, sperm whales, seals, aquatic sloths, walrus-whales and predatory bony fish. Marine mammal skeletons are distributed in four discrete horizons at the site, representing a recurring accumulation mechanism. Taphonomic analysis points to strong spatial focusing with a rapid death mechanism at sea, before being buried on a barrier-protected supratidal flat. In modern settings, HABs are the only known natural cause for such repeated, multispecies accumulations. This proposed agent suggests that upwelling zones elsewhere in the world should preserve fossil marine vertebrate accumulations in similar modes and densities. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 73 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 15 | 21% |
| United States | 15 | 21% |
| Australia | 2 | 3% |
| Japan | 2 | 3% |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1% |
| Libya | 1 | 1% |
| Germany | 1 | 1% |
| Ireland | 1 | 1% |
| Canada | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 3 | 4% |
| Unknown | 31 | 42% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 51 | 70% |
| Scientists | 20 | 27% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 3% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 215 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 3 | 1% |
| Brazil | 3 | 1% |
| Argentina | 2 | <1% |
| Chile | 2 | <1% |
| United States | 2 | <1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Canada | 1 | <1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 2 | <1% |
| Unknown | 197 | 92% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 37 | 17% |
| Researcher | 36 | 17% |
| Student > Master | 31 | 14% |
| Student > Bachelor | 27 | 13% |
| Other | 19 | 9% |
| Other | 42 | 20% |
| Unknown | 23 | 11% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 81 | 38% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 59 | 27% |
| Environmental Science | 23 | 11% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 7 | 3% |
| Social Sciences | 2 | <1% |
| Other | 13 | 6% |
| Unknown | 30 | 14% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 485. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 September 2023.
All research outputs
#55,326
of 25,654,566 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#120
of 11,397 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#355
of 242,100 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#1
of 137 outputs
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