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Paleoecology Of Nebraska’S Ungulates During The Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition, Grant S. Boardman

Dissertations & Theses in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

The White River Group (WRG) preserves the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition (EOCT), an interval of global cooling and drying during the onset of Antarctic glaciation. In the Great Plains, a shift from forested conditions to drier woodland-savanna biomes is hypothesized to have occurred at this time. I test this hypothesis through the analyses of several paleoenvironmental proxies on the teeth of 12 WRG ungulate species: stable carbon and oxygen isotopes from tooth enamel, and mesowear and microwear texture. The EOCT shift toward more open habitats and lower vegetation density under drying climates should have resulted in an increase in mean carbon ...

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Mussel Survivorship, Growth Rate And Shell Decay Rate In The New River Basin Of Tennessee: An Experimental Approach Using Corbicula Fluminea, Grant Andrew Mincy

Masters Theses

The New River Basin (NRB) of Tennessee is home to a number of rare endemic aquatic communities. One such community of particular importance to the area, experiencing a precipitous population decline due to the fouling and pollution of their freshwater systems, is that of freshwater mussels (Bogan 2006). This study in the NRB involves measuring the mortality rates of live Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) assemblages and the shell decay rates of their death assemblages. This study also examines the decay rates of the native Villosa iris to gather information on molluscan health and the ability of their shells to be ...

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A New Species Of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Cypraeid Gastropod, Santa Ana Mountains, Southern California And New Records Of California Cretaceous Cypraeids, Lindsey T. Groves, Harry F. Filkorn, John M. Alderson

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Abstract.―A new species of Cypraeidae is described from the middle Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Schulz Ranch Member of the Williams Formation, Santa Ana Mountains, Orange County, southern California. This is the first cypraeid described from the Williams Formation and only the second cypraeid species described from the Santa Ana Mountains. New paleogeographic and stratigraphic records of previously described and Cretaceous indeterminate cypraeid species are also listed.

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Evolution Of The Late Ordovician Plaesiomyid Brachiopod Lineage In Laurentia, Colin D. Sproat

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During the Late Ordovician, a transgression flooded much of Laurentia. The fauna of these intracratonic basins became differentiated from the fauna of the pericratonic shelves and platforms, typically displaying gigantism and coarser shell ornamentation. In this study, 509 specimens from 11 species of the Plaesiomyidae brachiopod family from the Katian and Hirnantian were measured, of which 198 included in principal component analysis to quantify morphological changes over this interval. Three trends were revealed: 1) increasing globosity and dorsal convexity from the early to late Katian, 2) coarser, but fewer ribs on species from the paleoequatorial intracratonic seas compared to species ...

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Evaluating Potential Post-Flood Boundaries With Biostratigraphy--The Pliocene/Pleistocene Boundary, Marcus R. Ross

Marcus R. Ross

Here I report a biostratigraphic analysis of 303 genera from 28 North American terrestrial mammalian families, in which all families contain members that are either extant or last appear in Pliocene or Pleistocene deposits. The distribution of these taxa within the Cenozoic rock record is used to evaluate proposed demarcations for the Flood/post-Flood boundary. A pronounced biostratigraphic break is expected at the Flood/post-Flood boundary since the final devastation and burial of pre-Flood nephesh creatures should be stratigraphically overlain by the arrival of post-Flood migrants. It is found that when the Flood/post-Flood boundary is placed at or near ...

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A Large Cervidae Holocene Accumulation In Eastern Brazil: An Example Of Extreme Taphonomical Control In A Cave Environment, Alex Hubbe, Augusto S. Auler

International Journal of Speleology

A remarkable cervid bone accumulation occurs at a single passage (named Cervid Passage; CP) at Lapa Nova, a maze cave in eastern Brazil. CP lies away from cave entrances, is a typical pitfall passage and contains bone remains of at least 121 cervids, besides few bats, peccaries and rodents remains. There is no evidence of water (or sediment) flow at the site and in general bones lack post depositional alterations and display anatomical proximity, suggesting that the majority of the remains found inside CP (mainly cervids) are due to animals that after entering the cave got trapped in the site ...

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Mary Anning Of Lyme Regis: 19th Century Pioneer In British Palaeontology, Larry E. Davis

Headwaters: The Faculty Journal of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University

No abstract provided.

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