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Full-Text Articles in Geology
Beyond Functional Diversity: The Importance Of Trophic Position To Understanding Functional Processes In Community Evolution, Roxanne M. W. Banker, Ashley A. Dineen, Melanie G. Sorman, Carrie L. Tyler, Peter D. Roopnarine
Beyond Functional Diversity: The Importance Of Trophic Position To Understanding Functional Processes In Community Evolution, Roxanne M. W. Banker, Ashley A. Dineen, Melanie G. Sorman, Carrie L. Tyler, Peter D. Roopnarine
Geoscience Faculty Research
Ecosystem structure—that is the species present, the functions they represent, and how those functions interact—is an important determinant of community stability. This in turn aects how ecosystems respond to natural and anthropogenic crises, and whether species or the ecological functions that they represent are able to persist. Here we use fossil data from museum collections, literature, and the Paleobiology Database to reconstruct trophic networks of Tethyan paleocommunities fromthe Anisian and Carnian (Triassic), Bathonian (Jurassic), and Aptian (Cretaceous) stages, and compare these to a previously reconstructed trophic network from a modern Jamaican reef community. We generated model food webs consistent with …
Filling The Gaps: A Comprehensive Understanding Of Diets And Ecosystem Interactions Within The Modern And Fossil Small Mammal Communities Of Meade Basin, Kansas, Hannah Richardson, Kena Fox-Dobbs, Andrew Haveles
Filling The Gaps: A Comprehensive Understanding Of Diets And Ecosystem Interactions Within The Modern And Fossil Small Mammal Communities Of Meade Basin, Kansas, Hannah Richardson, Kena Fox-Dobbs, Andrew Haveles
Summer Research
The modern Great Plains ecosystem began shifting from a woodland biome to a grassland in the Miocene. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of a diverse community of local consumers, in this case small mammals, provides both a paleoenvironmental record of the shift from woodland C3 biomass to grassland C4 biomass, and a paleoecological record of species interactions and community dynamics. The Meade Basin in southwestern Kansas contains a rich and fairly complete fossil record of a Great Plains small mammal community throughout the past 5 million years. SIA of fossil tooth enamel from Meade small mammals has revealed interesting …
Ecology And Morphology Of The Late Miocene Musk Deer, Longirostromeryx Wellsi (Artiodactyla: Moschidae: Blastomerycinae), Katheryn Y. C. Chen
Ecology And Morphology Of The Late Miocene Musk Deer, Longirostromeryx Wellsi (Artiodactyla: Moschidae: Blastomerycinae), Katheryn Y. C. Chen
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Longirostromeryx wellsi, one of the latest surviving members of the extinct clade Blastomerycinae (Artiodactyla: Moschidae), possesses highly derived craniodental morphology that deviates from typical musk deer form. Previous work suggests that the unique anatomy of L. wellsi represents adaptations for occupying open savannas. To test this hypothesis I conduct principal components analysis on five postcranial bones of L. wellsi, comparing them to that of several extant ruminant artiodactyls, which are divided among seven habitat categories. These elements are also compared with the postcrania of other blastomerycines. These analyses indicate that L. wellsi anatomy is most similar to that of other …
Paleoecology Of Nebraska’S Ungulates During The Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition, Grant S. Boardman
Paleoecology Of Nebraska’S Ungulates During The Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition, Grant S. Boardman
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
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 …
Plant Paleoecology Of The Late Devonian Red Hill Locality, North-Central Pennsylvania, An Archaeopteris-Dominated Wetland Plant Community And Early Tetrapod Site., Walter L. Cressler Iii
Plant Paleoecology Of The Late Devonian Red Hill Locality, North-Central Pennsylvania, An Archaeopteris-Dominated Wetland Plant Community And Early Tetrapod Site., Walter L. Cressler Iii
Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications
The Late Devonian Red Hill locality in north-central Pennsylvania contains an Archaeopteris-dominated plant fossil assemblage, a diverse fossil fauna, and an extensive sedimentary sequence ideal for investigating the landscapes and biotic associations of the earliest forest ecosystems. Sedimentological analysis of the main plantfossil bearing layer at Red Hill indicates that it was a fl ood-plain pond. A seasonal wet-and-dry climate is indicated by well-developed paleovertisols. The presence of charcoal interspersed with plant fossils indicates that fi res occurred in this landscape.Fires appear to have primarily affected the fern Rhacophyton. The specifi city of the fires, the distribution profi …