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Full-Text Articles in Paleobiology

Community Structure Analysis Of Mammals Found At The Gray Fossil Site, Tn, Sarah Clark May 2022

Community Structure Analysis Of Mammals Found At The Gray Fossil Site, Tn, Sarah Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (GFS) is a biodiverse site with a unique faunal assemblage that represents one of few sites of its age in eastern North America. A community structure analysis of the mammals at GFS was done to characterize species and better understand the paleoenvironment. Data and was gathered from twenty modern communities and five late Neogene sites to compare with GFS. Species from these 26 sites were categorized by body size, locomotor mode, cheek tooth crown height, and diet to characterize niches occupied. Descriptive statistics contrasted proportions of species within categories across communities. Discriminant function analyses …


Pliocene Wood From The Gray Fossil Site, Owen Madsen May 2022

Pliocene Wood From The Gray Fossil Site, Owen Madsen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Gray Fossil Site in northeastern Tennessee preserves materials from a 5-million-year-old ecosystem, including wood from nearby trees. This study consists of three parts: conservation of wood remains, identification of taxonomic groups represented by the fossil wood, and measuring the organic content of fossil wood from the Gray Fossil Site. When excavated, wood specimens from the site are saturated due to a high local water table. After testing seven different techniques to dry wood specimens, wrapping a specimen in string and allowing it to dry slowly was the method least likely to cause warping and cracking. Microscopic examination of wood …