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If you study predatory gastropods, or if gastropods eat the creatures you study, please consider submitting an abstract for a topical session on gastropod predation (sponsored by Paleontological Society) at the November Geological Society of America meeting. The session is entitled "The Hunters and the Hunted: Predation on and by Gastropods" and is organized by Patricia Kelley, Thor Hansen and Greg Dietl. The following proposal was approved by GSA: "Predation is a major factor affecting the structure and diversity of communities, the flow of energy through ecosystems, and the life history, morphology, distribution and abundance of species. Although predator-prey interactions are important agents of natural selection, the macroevolutionary consequences of such interactions are debated. Knowledge of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record is essential for developing and testing hypotheses concerning the role of predation in evolution. The fossil record of predation on and by gastropods arguably is known better than that for any other major taxonomic group. Gastropod predators employ a variety of methods for attacking prey; gastropods that drill, wedge open, or chip their victims' shells produce distinctive traces of successful and unsuccessful predation in the fossil record. Gastropods are also victims of drilling, breaking, and peeling predation by various molluscs, arthropods, and vertebrates. Evidence of such predation on gastropods also is abundant in the fossil record....This topical session will provide a venue for ... research presentations focused upon the fossil group with the greatest potential for yielding insights into questions of predator-prey interactions and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. Presentations will be included on the fossil record of predation on and by gastropods, as well as on research that uses modern taxa to understand the implications of this fossil record." Abstract deadline is July 13. The GSA meeting is Nov 7 - 10; exact date of the session within that period will be determined by GSA later. If you are interested in participating, or if you have questions, please contact Patricia Kelley at kelleyp@uncw.edu. Dr. Patricia H. Kelley Past-President, Paleontological Society Professor of Geology Department of Earth Sciences University of North Carolina at Wilmington Wilmington, NC 28403-5944 Phone: 910-962-7406 or 910-962-2348 Department Phone: 910-962-3490 Fax: 910-962-7077 email: kelleyp@uncw.edu
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