Article: Size-selective transport of shells by birds and its palaeoecological implications

Size-selective transport of shells is demonstrated in the Dutch Wadden Sea for the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) and the Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus): only larger shells were transported. Size-selective transport of shells by predators is one of the taphonomic processes altering the size-frequency distribution of shells in the death assemblage: it results in mortality not recorded in the death assemblage forming where the animal lives. Such transport will occur particularly in intertidal areas. It hampers the use of size-frequency distribution for studies of population dynamics in fossil assemblages.