Abstract Uniformitarian approaches to ecology contain both valuable aspects and pitfalls, because there are several different concepts that are subsumed under the umbrella of uniformitarianism. Some of these concepts are valid; others are less so because they make inaccurate presumptions. Here we use uniformitarian approaches relating functional traits governing organismal survival to survival at the species level by exploring whether the distribution of functional traits in Pliocene–Holocene molluscs is reflected in their patterns of survival and extinction. Plio‐Pleistocene bivalves and gastropods from the West Atlantic (WA) have a well‐studied fossil record, and many of these species are still extant. Further, the relatively warm oceans in the Late Pliocene are expected to correspond to ocean conditions in 2100, such that taxa from this region and time interval can be used to help develop a predictive framework of molluscan survival. The 16 functional traits considered were related to a variety of important ecological attributes of molluscs including metabolic requirements and predation resistance. Of the traits considered, none was significantly correlated with increased extinction risk. This shows the difficulty of predicting extinction based on functional traits and suggests that other factors played more important roles in survival, though more data may better resolve this. If extinction risk was not directly related to characteristics of the ecological niche evaluated but rather was either stochastic or controlled by properties not considered or not observable in the fossil record, then changes in these traits (e.g. niche evolution) may not alter extinction probabilities in this case.
Betz et al. (Thu,) studied this question.