Research Interest

My research focuses on the evolution and paleoecology of Coastal Plain molluscs. I am especially interested in the evolutionary process and the factors that control it, and I believe that the fossil record contains data essential for deciphering this process. My initial studies, a test of the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium, investigated tempo and mode of evolution of the Miocene mollusc fauna of Maryland. More recent and current work focuses on evolutionary paleoecology, with a particular interest in the role of ecological factors, such as predation, in evolution. A major thrust of this work has involved testing Vermeij’s hypothesis of escalation, which proposes that biological hazards such as predation, along with adaptation to those hazards, have increased through geological time. Thor Hansen (Western Washington University) and I have compiled a database on predation by shell-drilling naticid gastropods in the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain; our collections now include >150,000 mollusc specimens of Cretaceous through Pleistocene age. We have used these data to test a variety of hypotheses about the dynamics and evolutionary history of predator-prey interactions, predator-prey coevolution and escalation, and the ecology of mass extinctions and recoveries of mollusc faunas. We are also investigating spatial variation in predation; our work on modern faunas has involved collaboration with middle school teachers and students (“The Moonsnail Project”). Current work also addresses the ecological response of the Iceland molluscan fauna to the invasion of predatory gastropods during the Pliocene. I enjoy collaborating on my research with students at all levels, from undergraduate to PhD. Iceland

College of Wooster        B.A., Geology                 1975
Harvard University        A.M., Geology                1977
Harvard University        Ph.D., Geology               1979

Kelley, P.H., M. Kowalewski, and T.A. Hansen (eds). 2003. Predator-Prey Interactions in the Fossil Record. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, 464 p.

Kelley, P.H. 2000. Studying evolution and keeping the faith. Geotimes 45(12):22-23,41.

Kelley, P.H., and T.A. Hansen. 2001. The role of ecological interactions in the evolution of naticid gastropods and their molluscan prey. Pp. 149-170. In W. Allmon and D. Bottjer, Evolutionary Paleoecology. Columbia University Press, New York.

Kelley, P.H., and T.A. Hansen. 2001. The Mesozoic marine revolution, p. 94-97. In D.E.G. Briggs and P.R. Crowther, Palaeobiology II. Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Kelley, P.H., T.A. Hansen, S.E. Graham, and A.G. Huntoon. 2001. Temporal patterns in the efficiency of naticid gastropod predators during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of the United States Coastal Plain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 166(1/2):165-176.

Kelley, P.H. and T.A. Hansen. 2001. Extinction. New Book of Knowledge, 5:425-426. (also published online at http://go.grolier.com:80/)

Dietl, G.P. and P.H. Kelley. 2001. Mid-Paleozoic latitudinal predation gradient: Distribution of brachiopod ornamentation reflects shifting Carboniferous climate. Geology 29:111–114.

Dietl, G.P., P.H. Kelley, R. Barrick and W. Showers. 2002. Escalation and extinction selectivity: morphology versus isotopic reconstruction of bivalve metabolism. Evolution 56(2):284-291.

Hansen, T.A., and P.H. Kelley. 2002. Moonsnail project: roles of technology and research in learning science. pp. 57-64, In Chambers, J.A. (ed.) Selected Papers from the Thirteenth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

Dietl, G. P. and P.H. Kelley. 2002. The fossil record of predator-prey arms races: coevolution and escalation hypotheses, p. 353-374. In M. Kowalewski and P.H. Kelley (eds). The Fossil Record of Predation. The Paleontological Society Papers, vol. 8.

Kelley, P.H., and T.A. Hansen. 2003. The fossil record of drilling predation on bivalves and gastropods, p. 113-139. In P.H. Kelley, M. Kowalewski, and T.A. Hansen (eds), Predator-Prey Interactions in the Fossil Record. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press.

Hansen, T.A., P.H. Kelley, and J.C. Hall. 2003. Moonsnail Project: a scientific collaboration with middle school teachers and students. Journal of Geoscience Education 50(1):35-38.

Hansen, T.A., P.H. Kelley, and D.M. Haasl. 2004. Paleoecological patterns in molluscan extinctions and recoveries: Comparison of the Cretaceous-Tertiary and Eocene-Oligocene extinctions in North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 214(3):233-242.

Reinhold, M.E., and P.H. Kelley. 2005. The influence of anti-predatory morphology on survivorship of the Owl Creek Formation molluscan fauna through the end-Cretaceous extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 217:143-153.

Kelley, P.H., and T.A. Hansen. 2006. Comparisons of class- and lower taxon-level patterns in naticid gastropod predation, Cretaceous to Pleistocene of the U.S. Coastal Plain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 236(3/4):302-320.

Dietl, G.P., and P.H. Kelley. 2006. Can naticid gastropod predators be discriminated by the holes they drill? Ichnos 13:1-6.