Are The Brachiopods And The Bryozoa Two Of The Most Abundant Species From The Ordovician Period?

Essay by Kaytara21 March 2004

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"The Ordovician Period is the second period of the Paleozoic Era" (Kazlev, 2002). The Brachiopoda and the Bryozoa are two of the most abundant species in the Ordovician Period. In order to understand this, an explanation of the results obtained in lab, the species history, and the examination of the species must be accomplished. This period experienced the origin and rapid evolutions of many new types of invertebrates (Kazlev, 2002)

Two of the major invertebrates in the Ordovician period are the Brachiopoda and the Bryozoa. From the data acquired in lab, the general structure of the Ordovician community was roughly constructed. The community was composed mostly of bryozoa, echinodermata (class crinoids), brachiopoda, arthropoda (class trilobites), and the mollusca phylum (class gastropoda and nautiloid). The most abundant of all these species was the Brachiopoda. The next abundant was phylum echinodermata, class crinoids. The third abundant of all the above species was the Bryozoa and the rest of the species were not extremely plentiful.

The two groups that seemed the most interesting of the entire group were the Brachiopoda and the Bryozoa. According to the lab results obtained, these two species were shown to be two of the more abundant and diverse species in the Ordovician period. After an examination of the lab data the actual species history must be analyzed in order to verify the lab results.

When an examination of the species history was completed two of the most interesting and similar of all the species during the Ordovician period were the brachiopoda and the bryozoa. The Ordovician was a time of vast change, with several mass extinctions. New Paleozoic fauna emerged including bryozoa and articulate brachiopods (Kazlev, 2002). The bryozoans appeared in large numbers and represented the principal colonial animals during that time (Kazlev, 2002). The brachiopods...