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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Paleontology
The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier
The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The national mammal of the United States, the American Bison (Bison bison) was once nearly extinct. Populations have recovered to the degree that thousands roam the Great Plains today. Due to their large numbers and body size, this species has an oversized impact on the ecological communities where it lives and is considered a keystone herbivore in modern North American grasslands. This study explores the detailed, seasonally resolved, paleoecology of seven bison from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during the Late Holocene through stable isotope analyses and species niche modeling. Isotopic analyses of δ13C, δ15N, …
Community Structure Analysis Of Turtles With Application To The Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Julian Conley
Community Structure Analysis Of Turtles With Application To The Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Julian Conley
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Turtles are important components of ecosystems around the world, with diverse ecological niches and adaptations. However, there are few detailed studies of how turtle community structure reflects local environments. This project applied techniques of community structure analysis to sites across the United States to infer past ecosystem and environmental conditions of the early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (GFS) in northeastern Tennessee based on the ancient turtle community. Results indicate extant turtle community structure closely reflects environmental conditions, and that ancient turtle communities can be used to infer climate and habitat conditions of past ecosystems. Application to the GFS turtle community …
Reconstructing The Ecological Relationships Of Late Cretaceous Antarctic Dinosaurs And How Functional Tooth Morphology Influenced These Relationships, Ian D. Broxson
2022 Symposium
The Sandwich Bluff Formation of the James Ross Basin of Antarctica has recently yielded a group of five late Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived contemporaneously with each other, a first for Antarctica. These five dinosaurs include fragmentary remains of two differently sized elasmarian ornithopods, a possible megaraptor, a hadrosaur, and a nodosaur. In this study we will construct a model of the ecological relationships of late Cretaceous Antarctica. Additionally, we will look at what specific factors allowed this group of four herbivores and a carnivore to coexist in a restricted locality and what niches were filled by each species. Methods to …
Ontogenetic Niche Shift As A Driver Of Community Structure And Diversity In Non-Avian Dinosaurs, Katlin Schroeder
Ontogenetic Niche Shift As A Driver Of Community Structure And Diversity In Non-Avian Dinosaurs, Katlin Schroeder
Biology ETDs
As some of the most charismatic megafauna to ever walk the earth, the physiology, morphology, growth and evolution of non-avian theropods has been studied exhaustively, yet little is understood about their roles in ecosystems as juveniles. For carnivorous megatheropods, which exceed 1,000kg in mass yet hatched from eggs of limited size, the likelihood of utilizing different prey through ontogeny was high, simply by proxy of the immense difference in size between adults and juveniles. We found these ontogenetic niche shifts, evidenced by significantly different dental microwear in Tyrannosaurids, to have excluded dinosaurian mesocarnivores from Mesozoic communities. The few dinosaurian mesocarnivores …
Halodash: The Deep And Shallow History Of Aquatic Life's Passages Between Marine And Freshwater Habitats, Eric T. Schultz, Lisa Park Boush
Halodash: The Deep And Shallow History Of Aquatic Life's Passages Between Marine And Freshwater Habitats, Eric T. Schultz, Lisa Park Boush
EEB Articles
This series of papers highlights research into how biological exchanges between salty and freshwater habitats have transformed the biosphere. Life in the ocean and in freshwaters have long been intertwined; multiple major branches of the tree of life originated in the oceans and then adapted to and diversified in freshwaters. Similar exchanges continue to this day, including some species that continually migrate between marine and fresh waters. The series addresses key themes of transitions, transformations, and current threats with a series of questions: When did major colonizations of fresh waters happen? What physiographic changes facilitated transitions? What organismal characteristics facilitate …
The Effects Of Hybridization On Skeletal Morphology In Two Closely Related Populations Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta): A Geometric Morphometric Approach, Cody Zachery Schumacher
The Effects Of Hybridization On Skeletal Morphology In Two Closely Related Populations Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta): A Geometric Morphometric Approach, Cody Zachery Schumacher
Theses and Dissertations
Precise identification and classification techniques are vital for the field of paleoanthropology to ensure that hominin fossilized remains are labeled accurately. The morphology of extinct hominin specimens will typically be compared to extant nonhuman primate species because of how closely related they are phylogenetically. Observable similarities in their morphological variation can be examined to infer which traits may be a result of evolution and this can update our understanding of their evolutionary relationships. The genus Macaca displays a level of morphological variation that is similar to that seen in the genus Homo, therefore macaques can be used as an analogous …
Community Structure Analysis Of Mammals Found At The Gray Fossil Site, Tn, Sarah Clark
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 …
Rodent Dental Microwear Texture Analysis As A Proxy For Fine-Scale Paleoenvironment Reconstruction, Jenny H. E. Burgman
Rodent Dental Microwear Texture Analysis As A Proxy For Fine-Scale Paleoenvironment Reconstruction, Jenny H. E. Burgman
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) of fossil fauna has become a valuable tool for dietary inference and paleoenvironment reconstruction. Most of this work has utilized larger taxa with larger home ranges. These studies may result in broader-scale habitat inferences that could mask the details of complex mosaic habitats. Rodent DMTA offers an opportunity to work at finer spatial scales because most species have smaller home ranges. Rodents are also keystone species within their ecosystems, abundant, ubiquitous, and found in many fossil deposits. These attributes make them excellent proxies for environmental reconstructions. However, the application of DMTA to rodents remains relatively …
A Newly Recognized Theropod Assemblage From The Lewisville Formation (Woodbine Group; Cenomanian) And Its Implications For Understanding Late Cretaceous Appalachian Terrestrial Ecosystems, Christopher R. Noto, Domenic C. D'Amore, Stephanie K. Drumheller, Thomas L. Adams
A Newly Recognized Theropod Assemblage From The Lewisville Formation (Woodbine Group; Cenomanian) And Its Implications For Understanding Late Cretaceous Appalachian Terrestrial Ecosystems, Christopher R. Noto, Domenic C. D'Amore, Stephanie K. Drumheller, Thomas L. Adams
Articles & Book Chapters
While the terrestrial fossil record of the mid-Cretaceous interval (Aptian to Cenomanian) in North America has been poorly studied, the recent focus on fossil localities from the western United States has offered a more detailed picture of vertebrate diversity, ecosystem dynamics and faunal turnover that took place on the western landmass of Laramidia. This is in stark contrast to the terrestrial record from the eastern landmass of Appalachia, where vertebrate fossils are rare and consist mostly of isolated and fragmentary remains. However, a detailed understanding of these fossil communities during this interval is necessary for comparison of the faunal patterns …
The Naming Of Homo Bodoensis By Roksandic And Colleagues Does Not Resolve Issues Surrounding Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution, Eric Delson, Chris Stringer
The Naming Of Homo Bodoensis By Roksandic And Colleagues Does Not Resolve Issues Surrounding Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution, Eric Delson, Chris Stringer
Publications and Research
Roksandic et al. (2022) proposed the new species name Homo bodoensis as a replacement name for Homo rhodesiensis Woodward, 1921, because they felt it was poorly and variably defined and was linked to sociopolitical baggage. However, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature includes regulations on how and when such name changes are allowed, and Roksandic et al.'s arguments meet none of these requirements. It is not permitted to change a name solely because of variable (or erroneous) later use once it has been originally defined correctly, nor can a name be modified because it is offensive to one or more …