From Salina to the Salinas---the Influence of Roger Kaesler on An Ostracodologist

The work of Roger Kaesler spanned many decades and even more topics. His work on ecophenotypic variability along environmental gradients, biostratigraphy and stasis, late Paleozoic ostracod faunas, as well the application of quantitative methods on testing hypotheses were all highly influential. His leadership as Editor of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology and interest in developing taxonomic databases were also of importance to the field. His work was always timely, yet ahead of its time and can be seen influencing subsequent research in those who have followed in his broad footsteps.

One such area benefitting from Roger's influence is the development of a taxonomic atlas of ostracods from saline lakes on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Lakes on this tropical island are highly variable with respect to origin, water chemistry, size and tidal influence. Each lake has been examined for ostracods to determine diversity, distribution, and ecophenotypic variability. These data have been compiled and placed into the first taxonomic and geochemical atlas of Caribbean ostracods. This database consists of over 60 senior synonym species records that include morphologic descriptions, ESEM images, distribution maps and geochemical tolerances. From this database, several patterns have emerged regarding species distribution and abundance of these ostracod faunas: 1) lake salinity was found to correlate with alpha diversity with the highest diversity occurring at the calcite branchpoint, 2) there is little correlation between species distribution and geographic proximity and 3) dissimilar faunas occurred in adjacent lakes with similar chemistry.

This database will be made available online and, in time, will be expanded to include the greater Caribbean basin as well as core and stratigraphic distributions, providing a major step toward stabilizing taxonomic concepts of non-marine Caribbean ostracod species.