Assessing sampling of the fossil record in a geographically and stratigraphically constrained dataset: the Chalk Group of Hampshire, Southern UK

Taphonomic, geological and sampling processes have been cited as biasing richness measurements in the fossil record, and sampling proxies have been widely used to assess this. However, the link between sampling and taxonomic richness is poorly understood, and there has been much debate over the equivalence and relevance of proxies. We approach this question by combining both historical and novel data: a historical fossil occurrence dataset with uniquely high spatial resolution from the Upper Cretaceous Chalk Group of Hampshire, UK, and a newly-compiled 3D geological model which maps subsurface extent. The geological model provides rock volumes, and these are compared with exposure and outcrop area, sampling proxies that have often been conflated in previous studies. The extent to which exposure area (true rock availability) has changed over time is also tested. We find a trend of low Cenomanian to high Turonian to Campanian raw richness, which correlates with, and is possibly driven by the number of specimens found. After sampling standardisation, an unexpected mid-Turonian peak diversity is recovered, and sampling-standardised genus richness is best predicted by rock volume, suggesting a species-area (or, a “genus-area”) effect. Additionally, total exposure area has changed over time, but relative exposure remains the same.