Soft Tissue And Biomolecular Preservation In Vertebrate Fossils From Glauconitic, Shallow Marine Sediments Of The Hornerstown Formation, Edelman Fossil Park, New Jersey,
2022
Rowan University
Soft Tissue And Biomolecular Preservation In Vertebrate Fossils From Glauconitic, Shallow Marine Sediments Of The Hornerstown Formation, Edelman Fossil Park, New Jersey, Kristyn K. Voegele, Zachary Boles, Paul Ullmann, Elena R. Schroeter, Wenxia Zheng, Kenneth Lacovara
School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research
Endogenous biomolecules and soft tissues are known to persist in the fossil record. To date, these discoveries derive from a limited number of preservational environments, (e.g., fluvial channels and floodplains), and fossils from less common depositional environments have been largely unexplored. We conducted paleomolecular analyses of shallow marine vertebrate fossils from the Cretaceous–Paleogene Hornerstown Formation, an 80–90% glauconitic greensand from Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park in Mantua Township, NJ. Twelve samples were demineralized and found to yield products morphologically consistent with vertebrate osteocytes, blood vessels, and bone matrix. Specimens from these deposits that are dark in color exhibit excellent …
Investigation Of Dead Ocean Quahogs (Arctica Islandica) Shells On The Mid-Atlantic Bight Continental Shelf,
2022
The University of Southern Mississippi
Investigation Of Dead Ocean Quahogs (Arctica Islandica) Shells On The Mid-Atlantic Bight Continental Shelf, Alyssa Leclaire
Master's Theses
Ocean quahogs, Arctica islandica, are a long-lived, widely dispersed, biomass dominate in the Mid-Atlantic; therefore, quahog shells are valuable resources for studying climate change over time. Recently, dead ocean quahog shells were discovered south and inshore of the present biogeographic range of this animal. The presence of ocean quahog shells outside the current range is presumably a consequence of past regressions and transgressions of the Cold Pool, the bottom-trapped, cool body of water that allows boreal animals to live at lower latitudes. Dead ocean quahog shells were collected offshore of the DelMarVa Peninsula then radiocarbon-dated, evaluated for taphonomic condition, …
Reconstructing The Ecological Relationships Of Late Cretaceous Antarctic Dinosaurs And How Functional Tooth Morphology Influenced These Relationships,
2022
Eastern Washington University
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,
2022
University of New Mexico
Ontogenetic Niche Shift As A Driver Of Community Structure And Diversity In Non-Avian Dinosaurs, Katlin M. 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 …
Rodent Dental Microwear Texture Analysis As A Proxy For Fine-Scale Paleoenvironment Reconstruction,
2022
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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 …
Community Structure Analysis Of Mammals Found At The Gray Fossil Site, Tn,
2022
East Tennessee State University
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,
2022
East Tennessee State University
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 …
Unearthing The Effects Of European-American Settlement On A Northeast Ohio Kettle Lake Through Diatom Stratigraphy,
2022
The College of Wooster
Unearthing The Effects Of European-American Settlement On A Northeast Ohio Kettle Lake Through Diatom Stratigraphy, Justine Paul A. Berina
Senior Independent Study Theses
Recently, wetland conservation has highlighted the necessity for assessing limnological changes following European-American settlement. A prior study at Brown's Lake (northeast Ohio) identified a stratigraphic sequence that shows an abrupt transition from organic-rich muds to several centimeters of a bright loess layer, then a recovery to organic-rich sediments near the top. Based on 210Pb dates, the loess deposition occurred before 1846 CE, when a growing population cleared trees and farmed intensively. Likewise, organics had recovered after 1950 CE, when people abandoned farmland and practiced conservation tillage. However, the effects of settlement on limnology are poorly known. Diatoms (microscopic algae; …
The Revised Systematics And Paleoecology Of The Devonian Stemless Crinoid Genus Edriocrinus Hall, 1858,
2022
University of Kentucky
The Revised Systematics And Paleoecology Of The Devonian Stemless Crinoid Genus Edriocrinus Hall, 1858, Catherine E. Herbert
Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences
New morphological observations of Edriocrinus Hall, 1858, enable a modern, holistic view of this unusual crinoid genus, previously included in the Superorder Flexibilia (Zittel, 1895) Wright et al., 2017. Re-analysis of Edriocrinus suggests that the genus should now be assigned to the Order ‘Dendrocrinida’ within the Magnorder Eucladida Wright, 2017 based on the five infrabasals, single radianal in the cup, absent anal sac, and non-pinnulate arms with rectangular uniserial brachials. Moreover, examination of the slight variations separating the current 14 Edriocrinus species indicates that these “species” are likely ecophenotypes. The current Edriocrinus species are revised based on firmly bound calyx …
Model Of A Biotic Hard Substrate Community: Paleoecology Of Large Trepostome Bryozoans From The Upper Ordovician (Katian) Of The Cincinnati Region, Usa,
2022
The College of Wooster
Model Of A Biotic Hard Substrate Community: Paleoecology Of Large Trepostome Bryozoans From The Upper Ordovician (Katian) Of The Cincinnati Region, Usa, Kate Runciman
Senior Independent Study Theses
The calcite skeletons of trepostome bryozoan colonies from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) of the Cincinnati region record the diverse interactions and growth responses these colonies experienced. Trepostome specimens from three Cincinnatian strata; the Bellevue Member, the Bull Fork Formation, and the Whitewater Formation, were studied within this project. These three strata were deposited in a shallow epicontinental sea environment that was located in the southern subtropics, approximately 20-23°S at the time of deposition. The focus of this project was the paleoecology of large trepostome bryozoans, which was studied by examining bryozoan growth patterns, trace fossils, and sedimentation. Microscopic examination of …
Exploring The Morphometrics Of The Diatom Fragilariopsis Kerguelensis As A Proxy For Paleo-Sea Surface Temperature In The Late Pleistocene-Holocene Southern Ocean,
2022
Northern Illinois University
Exploring The Morphometrics Of The Diatom Fragilariopsis Kerguelensis As A Proxy For Paleo-Sea Surface Temperature In The Late Pleistocene-Holocene Southern Ocean, Joseph Anthony Ruggiero
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
The Southern Ocean has played a large role in moderating global climate since its inception in the Oligocene. With the onset of anthropogenic global warming, it is now more necessary than ever that we understand the world’s climate during periods of rapidly fluctuating temperature in the past. Climatic forecasts are informed by paleoenvironmental conditions of the past during these turbulent periods, which we can examine using proxy data. This thesis assesses a potential proxy for Sea Surface Temperature (SST) through morphometric analysis of the Southern Ocean diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica. This proxy is based off …
Male Mastodon Landscape Use Changed With Maturation (Late
Pleistocene, North America),
2022
University of Cincinnati
Male Mastodon Landscape Use Changed With Maturation (Late Pleistocene, North America), Joshua H. Miller, Daniel C. Fisher, Brooke E. Crowley, Ross Secord, Bledar A. Konomi
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications
Under harsh Pleistocene climates, migration and other forms of seasonally patterned landscape use were likely critical for reproductive success of mastodons (Mammut americanum) and other megafauna. However, little is known about how their geographic ranges and mobility fluctuated seasonally or changed with sexual maturity. We used a spatially explicit movement model that coupled strontium and oxygen isotopes from two serially sampled intervals (5+ adolescent years and 3+ adult years) in a male mastodon tusk to test for changes in landscape use associated with maturation and reproductive phenology. The mastodon’s early adolescent home range was geographically restricted, with no evidence of …
Distinguishing Mustela From Neogale (Mustelidae) Through Both A Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Skull And Tooth Morphology,
2021
East Tennessee State University
Distinguishing Mustela From Neogale (Mustelidae) Through Both A Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Skull And Tooth Morphology, Ronald W. Peery
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Weasels and mink (Mustela and Neogale) can be difficult to distinguish osteologically due to similarities in morphology, thus suggesting the need for an accurate tool in distinguishing among taxa. This study utilized a combination of character state and stepwise discriminant function (DFA) analyses to examine potential distinguishing features of skull and tooth morphology. Measurements and ratios were collected from all 18 extant musteline species, as well as the extinct Neovison macrodon, Mustela rexroadensis, Mustela meltoni, Mustela gazini, and Mustela jacksoni. Unidentified musteline specimens from the Gray Fossil Site were also included. Results of …
Climate On The Blanca Massif, Sangre De Cristo Mountains, Colorado, Usa, During The Last Glacial Maximum,
2021
University of Minnesota, Morris
Climate On The Blanca Massif, Sangre De Cristo Mountains, Colorado, Usa, During The Last Glacial Maximum, Keith A. Brugger, Eric M. Leonard, Kurt A. Refsnider, Peter Dolan
Geology Publications
Temperature-index modeling is used to determine the magnitude of temperature depression on the Blanca Massif, Colorado, required to maintain steady-state mass balances of nine reconstructed glaciers at their extent during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The mean temperature depression thus determined is ~8.6 +0.7/−0.9 degrees C where the uncertainties account for those inherent in the glacier reconstructions, in model parameters (e.g., melt factors), and possible modest changes in LGM precipitation. Associated equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) exhibit a statistically significant directional dependency being lower toward the north and east. Under the assumption that regional temperature change was uniform, required changes in precipitation …
Palynology And Paleoclimatology Of The Chicxulub Impact Crater In The Early Paleogene,
2021
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Palynology And Paleoclimatology Of The Chicxulub Impact Crater In The Early Paleogene, Vann Smith
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
At the end of the Cretaceous Period, a large bolide impacted the Earth and formed the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. In 2016, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 Site M0077 drilled into the buried peak ring of the crater, recovering a marine Paleocene to early Eocene post-impact section deposited on top of the impact breccia. Palynological analysis of 195 samples from the post-impact section has yielded the first pre-Holocene vegetational record from inside the Chicxulub impact crater and the first palynological record of the recovery of life following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction from inside the …
The Sensitivity Of Neotoma To Climate Change And Biodiversity Loss Over The Late Quaternary,
2021
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The Sensitivity Of Neotoma To Climate Change And Biodiversity Loss Over The Late Quaternary, Catalina P. Tomé, S. Kathleen Lyons, Seth D. Newsome, Felisa A. Smith
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The late Quaternary in North America was marked by highly variable climate and considerable biodiversity loss including a megafaunal extinction event at the terminal Pleistocene. Here, we focus on changes in body size and diet in Neotoma (woodrats) in response to these ecological perturbations using the fossil record from the Edwards Plateau (Texas) across the past 20,000 years. Body mass was estimated using measurements of fossil teeth and diet was quantified using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen from fossil bone collagen. Prior to ca. 7,000 cal yr BP, maximum mass was positively correlated to precipitation and negatively correlated …
Determining Biostratigraphy And Correlation Using Color Alteration Index And Lithofacies Of Conodonts In The Edinburg Formation, Central Virginia,
2021
James Madison University
Determining Biostratigraphy And Correlation Using Color Alteration Index And Lithofacies Of Conodonts In The Edinburg Formation, Central Virginia, Lauren Showalter
Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current
Conodont species, CAI and lithofacies analysis are used as methods of correlation to determine the relative age, depositional environment, and post depositional burial history of the Edinburg Formation in central Virginia. Samples collected for conodont microfossils yielded faunas of Baltoniodus sp. or Amorphognathus sp., Periodon grandis and Protopanderodus liripipus from a site near Luray and Drepanoistodus suberectus, Plectodina sp., Protopanderodus liripipus, Oistodus sp., Phragmodus undatus, Erismodus radicans and Panderodus gracilis from a site in Harrisonburg. The species supports a Late Ordovician (Late Sandbian age). Conodonts from both sites have a CAI of 4-5, indicating post-depositional heating of …
Effects Of Environmental Change On Ancestral Pueblo Fishing In The Middle Rio Grande,
2021
University of New Mexico
Effects Of Environmental Change On Ancestral Pueblo Fishing In The Middle Rio Grande, Jonathan William Dombrosky
Anthropology ETDs
It has long been assumed that fishes were unimportant in the diet of past Pueblo people in the U.S. Southwest. Yet, small numbers of fish remains are consistently recovered from Late pre-Hispanic/Early Historic archaeological sites in the Middle Rio Grande of New Mexico. The end of drought conditions may have impacted food choice and fishing decisions during this time. I use behavioral ecology to understand how fishing could have been an optimal food-getting strategy for Ancestral Pueblo farmers. Stable isotope analysis offers a way to account for environmental change. I provide a refined 13C Suess correction model to support …
Terrestrial Soldier Crab (Coenobita Clypeatus, Fabricius 1787) And Cerion Spp. (Röding 1798) Shell Relationship On San Salvador Island, Bahamas,
2021
Georgia College
Terrestrial Soldier Crab (Coenobita Clypeatus, Fabricius 1787) And Cerion Spp. (Röding 1798) Shell Relationship On San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Harley Hunt
Biology Theses
The Caribbean terrestrial soldier crab, Coenobita clypeatus(Fabricius 1787), coexist and utilize the shells of numerous species of land and marine gastropods. Soldier crabs rely on gastropod shells for protection as the crabs have a soft abdomen, leaving them vulnerable for predation and desiccation, threatening their survival. This creates a strong pressure to obtain well-fitting shells that provide adequate protection against water loss. Cerion of Röding (1798) shells are one of the most commonly used shells among living colonies of C. clypeatuson San Salvador Island. This study is interested in the frequency of shell use by C. clypeatus crabs …
Morphology And Paleoecology Of Nimravides Galiani (Felidae) And Barbourofelis Loveorum (Barbourofelidae) From The Late Miocene Of Florida,
2021
East Tennessee State University
Morphology And Paleoecology Of Nimravides Galiani (Felidae) And Barbourofelis Loveorum (Barbourofelidae) From The Late Miocene Of Florida, Christianne Ormsby
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Saber-toothed remains have been found worldwide throughout the Cenozoic, until the end of the Pleistocene. One site from Alachua County, Florida preserves a diverse Miocene fauna, including the machairodontine Nimravides galiani (Felidae) and the saber-toothed Barbourofelis loveorum (Barbourofelidae). Both taxa roamed what would become the Love Bone Bed site during the Late Miocene (Late Clarendonian NALMA), ~ 9.5 Mya. Previous descriptions focused on crania; yet the large sample of postcrania remained undescribed. Hence, this project includes a detailed postcranial description of both taxa. Results show that N. galiani resembles extant felids, whereas B. loveorum resembles Smilodon fatalis, as well …
