The influence of antipredatory morphology on survivorship of the Owl Creek Formation molluscan fauna through the end-Cretaceous extinction

Two of the 36 tests revealed statistically significant results at the 0.05 level: the presence of a crenulated margin among bivalve genera (p-value=0.031) and ornamentation among bivalve subgenera (p-value=0.026). The statistical test for a crenulated margin suggests that bivalve genera with this adaptation were more likely to survive, contrary to our hypothesis, and the test for survivorship among bivalve subgenera with respect to ornamentation was significant in favor of our hypothesis. However, most of the statistical tests do not support the prediction that escalated molluscan taxa were more prone to extinction when compared to non-escalated taxa. Survivorship may not be predictable by analyzing only one aspect of an organism. Instead, it may be necessary to analyze statistically a combination of potential survivor strategies, such as morphology and trophic level or habitat.