Earth Sciences Commons^™

Differential Effects Of Canopy Trimming And Litter Deposition On Litterfall And Nutrient Dynamics In A Wet Subtropical Forest, Steven J. Hall, Whendee L. Silver, Grizelle González

Steven J. Hall

Humid tropical forests have the highest rates of litterfall production globally, which fuels rapid nutrient recycling and high net ecosystem production. Severe storm events significantly alter patterns in litterfall mass and nutrient dynamics through a combination of canopy disturbance and litter deposition. In this study, we used a large-scale long-term manipulation experiment to explore the separate and combined effects of canopy trimming and litter deposition on litterfall rates and litter nutrient concentrations and content. The deposition of fine litter associated with the treatments was equivalent to more than two times the annual fine litterfall mass and nutrient content in control …

The Historical Role Of Base Maps In Soil Geography, Bradley A. Miller, R. J. Schaetzl

Bradley A Miller

Soil mapping is a major goal of soil science. Soil maps rely upon accurate base maps, both for positional reference and to provide environmental data that can assist in the prediction of soil properties. This paper reviews the historical development of base maps used for soil mapping, and evaluates the dependence of soil mapping on base maps. The availability of geographic technology for producing base maps has both constrained and directed the geographic study of soil. The lack of accurate methods for determining location limited early geographic descriptions of soils to narratives, or to listings of attributes for property-based map …

Fossil Baramins On Noah's Ark: The "Amphibians", Marcus R. Ross

Marcus R. Ross

Here I provide a compendium of extinct “amphibian” groups, representatives of which may have been carried aboard Noah’s Ark. Following previous work by the Ark Encounter team, I selected the taxonomic rank of family as a first-order proxy for the biblical “kind.” The resulting tabulation places 54 extinct “amphibian” families/kinds on board the Ark. While this number hinges upon taxonomies built upon fossil data (and its inherent shortcomings compared to extant forms), it serves as a reasonable approximation of the number of fossil “amphibians” taken aboard the Ark. When added to previously determined kinds of extant anurans, caudates, and gymnophionans, …

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 …

What Can We Learn From Confusing Olivella Columellaris And O. Semistriata (Olivellidae, Gastropoda), Two Key Species In Panamic Sandy Beach Ecosystems?, Allison I. Troost, Samantha D. Rupert, Ariel Z. Cyrus, Frank V. Paladino, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Winfried S. Peters

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Olivella columellaris (Sowerby 1825) and O. semistriata (Gray 1839) are suspension-feeding, swash-surfing snails on tropical sandy beaches of the east Pacific. While they often are the numerically dominant macrofaunal element in their habitats, their biology is poorly understood; the two species actually have been confused in all of the few publications that address their ecology. Frequent misidentifications in publications and collections contributed also to an overestimation of the geographic overlap of the two species. To provide a sound taxonomic basis for further functional, ecological, and evolutionary investigations, we evaluated the validity of diagnostic traits in wild populations and museum collections, …

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 …

Mass And Nutrient Loss In Decaying Hardwood Boles At Hubbard Brook, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.

Microbe-Mineral Relationships And Biogenic Mineral Transformations In Actively Venting Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Sulfide Chimneys, Tzihsuan J. Lin

TZIHSUAN J LIN

This dissertation uses a combination of microbiology, mineralogy, and geochemistry to understand dissimilatory iron reduction in hyperthermophilic archaea and the role and potential impact of these and other vent microorganisms within active deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimneys. The central objective of the dissertation is to determine if mineral composition and chimney type are among the primary determinants of microbial community composition and hyperthermophilic, dissimilatory iron reducer growth, in addition to other environmental factors such as nutrient availability, temperature, pH, and chlorinity. This is done using samples and organisms collected from the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the …

Semantic Calibration Of Digital Terrain Analysis Scale, Bradley A. Miller

Bradley A Miller

Digital terrain analysis (DTA) provides efficient, repeatable, and quantified metrics of landscape characteristics that are important to the Earth sciences, particularly for detailed soil mapping applications. However, DTA has not been field tested to the extent that traditional field metrics of topography have been. Human assessment of topography synthesizes multiple parameters at multiple scales to characterize a landscape, based on field experience. In order to capture the analysis scale used by field scientists, this study introduces a method for calibrating the analysis scale of DTA to field assessments. This method is used to calibrate land-surface derivatives of relative elevation, profile …

Soil Penetrometer, David A. Bainbridge

David A Bainbridge

A simple easy to build impact soil penetrometer can provide very useful information on soil strength. This can be very important for restoration planning and management of soils in agriculture and forestry.

Soil Solarization, David A. Bainbridge

David A Bainbridge

Soil solarization makes use of the energy of the sun to heat soil and kill weeds and pathogens. Single, double, or bubblepack plastic and be used to increase soil temperature. Multiple growth benefits are often realized.

Changing Climate And The Altitudinal Range Of Avian Malaria In The Hawaiian Islands – An Ongoing Conservation Crisis On The Island Of Kaua`I, Carter T. Atkonson, Ruth B. Utzurrum, Dennis A. Lapointe, Richard J. Camp, Lisa H. Crampton, Jeffrey T. Foster, Thomas W. Giambelluca

Richard J. Camp

Transmission of avian malaria in the Hawaiian Islands varies across altitudinal gradients and is greatest at elevations below 1500 m where both temperature and moisture are favorable for the sole mosquito vector, Culex quinquefasciatus, and extrinsic sporogonic development of the parasite, Plasmodium relictum. Potential consequences of global warming on this system have been recognized for over a decade with concerns that increases in mean temperatures could lead to expansion of malaria into habitats where cool temperatures currently limit transmission to highly susceptible endemic forest birds. Recent declines in two endangered species on the island of Kaua’i, the ‘Akikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) …

The Evolution Of Billfish, Andrew Blitman

Andrew Blitman

No abstract provided.