thanatocoenose

thanatocoenose

English

WOTD – 8 February 2015

Etymology

From thanato- +‎ coenose.

Noun

thanatocoenose (plural thanatocoenoses)

1. A collection of dead life forms that are found together, having previously interacted as a community within an ecosystem.
   • 1977, H. Löffler, ‎D. Danielopol, Aspects of Ecology and Zoogeography of Recent and Fossil Ostracoda, page 454:

     This sort of thanatocoenose is typical of lakes with a semi-arid climate (Early Triassic period in the Kuznetsk Basin, Middle Jurassic- Lower Cretaceous of Middle Asia).

   • 1989, Hans M. Bolli, ‎John B. Saunders, ‎Katharina Perch-Nielsen, Plankton Stratigraphy, Volume 2, page 764:

     The fossil diatom assemblage or thanatocoenose found in sediments typially represents as little as 1-5% of the original living assemblage or biocoenose.

   • 2008, R. Lee Lyman, Quantitative Paleozoology, page 23:

     Given that paleozoologists sample the geological record (i.e., where faunal remains are deposited as a particular kind of sedimentary particle), they don't always have a complete thanatocoenose lying on the lab table.

Synonyms

• thanatocoenosis, death assemblage

Related terms

• biocoenose
• phytocoenose

Translations

dead life forms found together

Chinese: Mandarin: 生物屍積群, 生物尸积群 (shēngwù shī jī qún), 屍積群, 尸积群 (shī jī qún) Malay: tanatosenosis

Portuguese: tanatocenose f Swedish: tanatocenos, thanatocoenos Ukrainian: танатоценоз m (tanatocenoz)