Filtering by Subject: Paleobiology
Published: 2023-09-25
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Geochemistry, Paleobiology
Microbial mats and microbialites are essential tools for reconstructing early life and its environments. To better understand microbial trace element cycling, a microbial mat was collected from the sinkhole systems of the western shores of the Dead Sea, a dynamic environment exhibiting diverse extreme environments. Intense arsenic enrichment (up to 6.5 million times higher than current water [...]
Published: 2023-06-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Climate, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
1. Global Plate Models (GPMs) aim to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of the Earth by modelling the motion of the plates and continents through time. These models enable palaeobiologists to study the past distribution of extinct organisms. However, different GPMs exist that vary in their partitioning of the Earth’s surface and the modelling of continental motions. Consequently, the preferred [...]
Published: 2022-10-26
Subjects: Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology
1. The open-source programming language ‘R’ has become a standard tool in the palaeobiologist’s toolkit. Its popularity within the palaeobiology community continues to grow, with published articles increasingly citing the usage of R and R packages. However, there are currently a lack of agreed standards for data preparation and available frameworks to support implementation of such standards. [...]
Published: 2022-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Oceanography, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
In a recent paper by Palcu et al. (2021: Scientific Reports 11, Art. Nr.: 11471), the Cape Panagia section on the Taman peninsula (Russian Black Sea) was dated using magnetostratigraphy, in order to calibrate the timing of previously published regressions of the Paratethys megalake. The authors of the paper claim that this “largest megalake in the geological record” experienced four major [...]
Published: 2022-03-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Volcanology
We undertook multiproxy analyses on two sediment cores from Lago Pato, a small lake basin at 51°S topographically separated from Lago del Toro in Torres del Paine (TdP), to provide insights into glacier dynamics and lake level change in the TdP and Última Esperanza region over the last ~30,000 cal a BP (30 ka). Lago Pato is situated in a region overridden by the Southern Patagonian Icefield [...]
Published: 2022-03-11
Subjects: Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology
One hundred and forty-four sections of shallow-water carbonates, deposited between the Paleocene and the Miocene, from the Levant to the Himalaya, have been investigated to analyze the distribution of carbonate facies and carbonate producing organisms. Large benthic foraminifera resulted the volumetrically most important group of carbonate producers during the whole period, with a peak in [...]
Published: 2021-12-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The global heterogeneity in export productivity after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction is well documented, with some sites showing no change on geologic timescales, some demonstrating sustained decline, and a few showing a somewhat surprising increase. However, observational data come from sites so widespread that a key outstanding question is the geographic scale of changes in [...]
Published: 2021-10-26
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Mineral Physics, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Speleology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology, Water Resource Management
Reproducibility, the extent to which consistent results are obtained when an experiment or study is repeated, sits at the foundation of science. The aim of this process is to produce robust findings and knowledge, with reproducibility being the screening tool to benchmark how well we are implementing the scientific method. However, the re-examination of results from many disciplines has caused [...]
Published: 2021-08-19
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Fresh Water Studies, Geochemistry, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Higher Education, Human Geography, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Meteorology, Mineral Physics, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Other Geography, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Planetary Sciences, Outdoor Education, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Biogeochemistry, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Glaciology, Planetary Hydrology, Planetary Mineral Physics, Planetary Sciences, Planetary Sedimentology, Remote Sensing, Sedimentology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Soil Science, Spatial Science, Speleology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology, Water Resource Management
Ensuring taught fieldwork is a positive, generative, collective, and valuable experience for all participants requires considerations beyond course content. To guarantee safety and belonging, participants’ identities (backgrounds and protected characteristics) must be considered as a part of fieldwork planning and implementation. Furthermore, getting fieldwork right is an important step in [...]
Published: 2021-08-13
Subjects: Paleobiology, Paleontology
Actinopterygii are the most speciose living vertebrate clade, and study of fossil members during their Palaeozoic rise to dominance has a long history of descriptive work. Although research interest into Palaeozoic actinopterygians has increased in recent years, broader patterns of diversity and diversity dynamics remain critically understudied. Past studies have investigated macroevolutionary [...]
Published: 2021-06-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sampling variations in the fossil record distort estimates of past biodiversity. However, compilations of global fossil occurrences used in these analyses not only reflect the geological and spatial aspects of the fossil record, but also the historical collation of these data. Here, we demonstrate how the legacy of colonialism as well as socio-economic factors such as wealth, education and [...]
Published: 2021-06-01
Subjects: Paleobiology, Paleontology
Publications are the de facto currency of academia. Academics, palaeontologists included, are often judged by publication metrics, which usually include the impact factor of the journal in which they publish, the number of publications and the number of citations. However, in the race to publish in high-impact journals and the pressure to increase research productivity, sometimes corners are cut, [...]
Published: 2021-05-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Paleobiology
It has commonly been proposed that the development of complex life—e.g., aerobic eukaryotes—coincided with atmospheric oxygenation. To test this hypothesis, we measured chromium-based oxygen proxies in a >2400-m core from the Onega Basin (NW-Russia), deposited ~2.1–2.0 billion years ago—closely preceding the first eukaryote fossils. Fractionated chromium isotopes are documented throughout the [...]
Published: 2021-03-18
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Geology, Paleobiology, Plant Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Sedimentology, Soil Science
Correlative imaging provides a method of investigating complex systems by combining analytical (chemistry) and imaging (tomography) information across dimensions (2D-3D) and scales (centimetres-nanometres). We studied weathering processes in a modern cryptogamic ground cover (CGC) from Iceland, containing early colonizing, and evolutionary ancient, communities of mosses, lichens, fungi, and [...]
Published: 2021-02-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic changes in the clustering of first or last taxon occurrences are a joint expression of evolutionary, ecological, taphonomic, and sedimentological processes. Sedimentation rates control the degree of sedimentary dilution and condensation and thus alter the time contained in a given thickness of sediment. However, it remains poorly explored quantitatively how distinct the [...]