Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Fine-Scale Habitat Use Of Risso’S Dolphins Off Bardsey Island, Cardigan Bay (Uk), Marijke N. De Boer, Sonja Eisfeld, Mark P. Simmonds

Mark P. Simmonds, OBE

The main objectives of this study were (1) to estimate the population size of Risso’s dolphins off Bardsey Island using mark-recapture techniques (De Boer et al., 2013); and (2) to study habitat-use in relation to fine-scale oceanographic features. This work provides preliminary information on the habitat-use of Risso’s dolphins and will benefit future studies, along with the development of effective conservation measures for this species throughout the region.

Cetaceans And Marine Debris: The Great Unknown, Mark Peter Simmonds

Mark P. Simmonds, OBE

Plastics and other marine debris have been found in the gastrointestinal tracts of cetaceans, including instances where large quantities of material have been found that are likely to cause impairment to digestive processes and other examples, where other morbidity and even death have resulted. In some instances, debris may have been ingested as a result of the stranding process and, in others, it may have been ingested when feeding. Those species that are suction or “ram” feeders may be most at risk. There is also evidence of entanglement of cetaceans in marine debris. However, it is usually difficult to distinguish …

Interactions Between Short-Beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus Delphis) And The Winter Pelagic Pair-Trawl Fishery Ff Southwest England (Uk), Marijke N. De Boer, James T. Saulino, Mardik F. Leopold, Peter J.H. Reijnders, Mark P. Simmonds

Mark P. Simmonds, OBE

During offshore and onshore studies (2004 to 2009), the interactions between pair-trawls and short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) were studied to better understand the impact of bycatch. A ‘hotspot’ area where pair-trawls overlapped with high dolphin abundance was identified. We made comparisons between boat-based data collected in absence and presence of pair-trawlers. The relative abundance and group-size of dolphins was significantly higher in the presence of pair-trawlers. Dolphins were observed associating with towing and hauling procedures. Significantly, more carcasses occurred in areas with hauling-activity than those without. Body-temperatures obtained from carcasses found near operating pair-trawlers indicated that bycatch mostly occurred …

Taphonomy Of The Joanna Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation: Is The Shrimp Mightier Than The Dinosaur?, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Lydia Mark, James Farlow, Jerry Jacene, Shelley Mcfadin

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of central Texas. While the trackways in Dinosaur Valley State Park are well known, many other sites can be found in this region. Recently, a new track site was discovered during construction in Glen Rose, Texas. The Joanna Track Site features tridactyl tracks which have been partly obliterated by invertebrates burrowing through the thick mud which buried them.

We measured and described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop directly adjacent to the track site. Samples were collected in …

Microstratigraphic Analysis Of Burrow-Reworked Dinosaur Track Bed At Joanna's Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation, Glen Rose, Texas, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Anthony Martin, James Farlow

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Although dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of Texas, the recently discovered Joanna track site illustrates a unique ichnological relationship where dinosaur tracks were disrupted by invertebrate burrows made long after burial. In an effort to document the precise sequence of events, we described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop adjacent to the track site, focusing on the 70-cm of strata immediately above the track horizon. An 8-meter N-S cross-section of this 70-cm interval was power-washed, examined for trace fossils, body fossils, and lithology …

Push Me – Pull You: Experimental Biomechanics Of Immobile Suspension Feeders On Soft Substrates, Roy Plotnick, Benjamin Dattilo, Joshua Corrie, Daniel Piquard, Jennifer Bauer

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Immobile suspension feeders on soft substrates (ISOSS; Thayer 1979) although rare in modern marine habitats, were relatively common in the Paleozoic. Numerous Paleozoic taxa have been interpreted as dwelling on soft unconsolidated sediments and possessing morphologic features that either anchor them to the sea floor (e.g., crinoid holdfasts) or prevent them from sinking in (strophomenid brachiopods). Thayer (1975) reviewed the morphologic adaptations for forms living on soft-muddy bottoms and provided a quantitative expression of the static stresses involved. The same quantitative expression can also be used to describe the forces involved in anchoring. With the exception of Leighton and Savarese …

An Unusual Association Of Pseudolingula And Rafinesquina From The Upper Ordovician Of Ohio, Benjamin Dattilo, Rebecca Freeman, Bryan Utesch, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Late Ordovician members of Order Lingulida, for the most part, resemble modern lingulids in their infaunal habits and marginal habitats. Pseudolingula, a common Cincinnatian form, is often found preserved in burrows in life position, and as such, it could probably escape moderate sediment accumulations. An unusual association of thousands of specimens of the lingulate Pseudolingula and hundreds of the strophomenid Rafinesquina in the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati, Ohio region presents an interesting case. This association occurs on 4-square-meter exposure of a 10 cm shell bed in the Fairview Formation at Harsha Lake, Ohio. The bed is covered with Rafinesquina …

Dinosaur Tracksites Of The Paluxy River Valley (Glen Rose Formation, Lower Cretaceous), Dinosaur Valley State Park, Somervell County, Texas., James O. Farlow, Mike O'Brien, Glenn J. Kuban, Benjamin F. Dattilo, K. T. Bates, Peter L. Falkingham, L. Pinuela, Amanda Rose, A. Freels, C. Kumagai, Courtney Libben, Justin Smith, J. Whitcraft

Benjamin F. Dattilo

In 1940 R.T. Bird of the American Museum of Natural History collected segments of a sauropod and a theropod trackway from a site in the bed (Glen Rose Formation; Lower Cretaceous) of the Paluxy River, in what is now Dinosaur Valley State Park (Glen Rose, Texas, USA). However, Bird left undocumented thousands of other dinosaur footprints from this and other Paluxy tracksites. In 2008 and 2009 our international team carried out fieldwork to create detailed photomosaics of extant Paluxy tracksites, using GIS technology to combine these with historic maps and photographs. We also made photographs, tracings, LiDAR images, and measurements …

The Curse Of Rafinesquina: Negative Taphonomic Feedback Exerted By Strophomenid Shells On Storm-Buried Lingulids In The Cincinnatian (Katian, Ordovician) Series Of Ohio, Rebecca Freeman, Benjamin Dattilo, Aaron Morse, Michael Blair, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Thousands of lingulid brachiopods were found clustered beneath hundreds of individual valves of the strophomenid brachiopod Rafinesquina in the Upper Ordovician of Ohio. This association suggested a relationship between the two brachiopods, but the nature of this relationship was unclear. We utilized serial thin sectioning to examine these brachiopods and to determine the origin of the bed in which they were found. Sedimentary structures, mixed taphonomies, and stratigraphic and paleogeographic setting suggest that the lingulids occupied a hiatal concentration that had previously been reworked, but not significantly transported, by tropical storms. The final burial event was a storm that exhumed …

The “Passive Implanter” Strategy Of The Adult Ordovician Brachiopod, Platystrophia Ponderosa., Sadye Howald, Benjamin Dattilo

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Platystrophia ponderosa is found throughout the Maysvillian Strata of the Cincinnati Ordovician. This species thrived in a high energy environment with only muddy shell gravels, and no solid substrates for pedicle attachment. Our growth-series studies show juveniles of this species had large pedicle openings, thin shell, small size, nearly flat shape, and shallow sinus/sulcus. In contrast, the adults had relatively small pedicle openings obstructed by a large beak, secondary thickening of the pedicle valve making it considerably thicker than the brachial valve, large size (up to 4cm in diameter), spherical shape, and deep sinus/sulcus. The morphological characteristics of the adult …

How Many Track Horizons Are Exposed At Dinosaur Valley State Park? Stratigraphy Of The Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation Track Sites Of The Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas, Benjamin Dattilo, Sadye Howald, James Farlow, Anthony Martin

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The dinosaur tracks of the Glen Rose Formation in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park are among the best preserved and most abundant in the world. While many track sites are easily correlated to the Main Tracksite, others, especially those at the extreme ends of the park, are differently preserved and not obviously correlated. To count track horizons, several stratigraphic sections were measured along the river from upstream at the McFall Ledge Site to 7.6 km downstream at the County Road 1001 crossing (3.1 km linear distance). These reveal 6 meters of strata separating two track-bearing horizons exposed …

Stop Clinging! –How The Ordovician Brachiopod (Fka Platystrophia) Vinlandostrophia Ponderosa Outgrew Its Mid-Life Attachment Crisis, Benjamin Dattilo, Sadye Howald

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The high-energy nearshore environment and muddy shifting shell gravels recorded in Maysvillian strata of the Cincinnati Ordovician might seem particularly inhospitable to brachiopods, which generally require solid surfaces for attachment. Nevertheless, Vinlandostrophia ponderosa thrived and even characterizes these facies. A preliminary study of growth series suggests that, like the full-grown stages of related species, smaller V. ponderosa were attached by pedicle. Smaller specimens have a large pedicle opening, a nearly flat shape, thin shell, and a shallow sinus/sulcus, leaving the commissure nearly flat. These characteristics are consistent with strong, erect pedicle attachment, even stronger than found in related species, whose …

The Orientation Of Strophomenid Brachiopods On Soft Substrates, Roy Plotnick, Benjamin Dattilo, Daniel Piquard, Jennifer Bauer, Joshua Corrie

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Strophomenid brachiopods have long been interpreted as ‘‘snowshoe’’ strategists, with their flattened concavoconvex valves providing resistance to foundering in very soft sediments. There has been a sharp difference of opinion in whether the shells were oriented with their convex or their concave surface in contact with the sediment. This study, along with independent evidence from sedimentology, ichnology, and morphology, indicates that the strophomenids lived with their shells concave down (convex up). Experiments indicate the force required to push shells into soft cohesive muds is much greater for the convex up than for the convex down orientation. Forces also increase with …

Gape, Feeding Currents And Valve Snapping In Thecidellina Meyeri From Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles: Biomechanical Analogue For Trace-Making Paleozoic Strophomenates?, Benjamin Dattilo, Tanya Del Valle, David Meyer, Aaron Morse

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The ability of Ordovician strophomenates Sowerbyella and Rafinesquina to move sediment and create moat-like depressions has led to questions about mechanisms. Anatomical studies suggest a gape of more than 45°, likely critical to trace-making abilities. Strophomenates are extinct, but thecidellinids are reasonably good analogues; they also gape widely and have a similar lophophore structure. They differ in their small size, 3 - 5 mm, lack of concavo-convex form, and by pedicle valve cementation. Nevertheless, their physiology could illuminate biomechanical constraints on strophomenate-sediment interactions. For this study, we analyzed 1 hour of video showing 30+ specimens collected with the fragment of …

The Brachiopod Trap: What Their Oldest (Upper Ordovician, Ohio) Failed Escape Burrows Tell Us About The Evolution Of Burrowing In Lingulids, Rebecca Freeman, Benjamin Dattilo, Aaron Morse, Michael Blair, Bryan Utesch, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Infaunal organisms living in shallow marine settings are vulnerable to exhumation during storms or entombment by storm-deposited sediments. Cambrian­–Early Ordovician lingulids included epifaunal as well as possible infaunal forms. However, many epifaunal forms became extinct during the Middle Ordovician, and Late Ordovician lingulids were similar in their infaunal habits and marginal habitats. Modern infaunal lingulids are able to reorient themselves after burial in sediments, but it is unclear when this ability evolved. Initial burrowing of juvenile lingulids, as well as re-burrowing of exhumed modern lingulids involves digging downwards and then back up in a u-shape, but successful escape burrowing involves …

Susceptibility Of Quagga Mussels (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis) To Hot-Water Sprays As A Means Of Watercraft Decontamination, Sean Comeau, Scott Rainville, Wen Baldwin, Emily Austin, Shawn Gerstenberger, Chad Cross, Wai Wong

Shawn Gerstenberger

The recent spread of dreissenid mussels to various bodies of water in the western US has sparked interest by many state and federal agencies to develop protocols to stop further expansion. Quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) are of particular importance as they are currently the most widespread dreissenid species in the region. This project examined the susceptibility of quagga mussels to hot-water sprays at different temperatures and durations of spray contact at Lake Mead (Nevada-Arizona, USA). Emersed adult quagga mussels were exposed to hot-water sprays at 20, 40, 50, 54, 60, 70, and 80°C for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, …

Estimating Survival Rates Of Quagga Mussel (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis) Veliger Larvae Under Summer And Autumn Temperature Regimes In Residual Water Of Trailered Watercraft At Lake Mead, Usa, W. Choi, Shawn Gerstenberger, R. Mcmahon, Wai Wong

Shawn Gerstenberger

No abstract provided.

The Salters Of Stanley Brook, Catherine V. Schmitt

Catherine Schmitt

No abstract provided.