DECOMPOSING LITHIFICATION BIAS: PRESERVATION OF LOCAL DIVERSITY STRUCTURE IN RECENTLY CEMENTED STORM-BEACH CARBONATE SANDS, SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, BAHAMAS

Lithification with related diagenetic phenomena is an important step in a complex transition from living communities to fossil assemblages and a major taphonomic filter distorting the record of past biodiversity. Apart from direct diagenetic culling of fossils, cementation of fossiliferous deposits induces changes in sampling procedures used to extract paleontological data. This study explores the effects of this methodological shift on recorded fine-scale paleoecological patterns by using subfossil mollusk assemblages occurring in the unlithified and recently cemented storm-beach carbonate sands at Sand Dollar Beach, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, which experienced limited diagenetic alteration. Results show that consistent differences in relative abundance patterns of particular taxa can be observed between unlithified and lithified samples due to collection failure. Magnitude of this distortion is controlled in a large part by a degree of transport-related size sorting, with well-sorted assemblages dominated by small gastropods being more affected. This bias, however, is of limited importance and can be mitigated by selective exclusion of the smallest size classes (