Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Paleontology
A critical evaluation of fossil pollen records from the mangrove tree Pelliciera beyond the Neotropics: biogeographical and evolutionary implications
Published: 2024-12-13
Subjects: Paleontology
Pelliciera is a Neotropical mangrove tree restricted to a small region around the Panama Isthmus. In the past, this taxon was distributed across much of the Neotropics, reaching its maximum extent during the Oligo-Miocene. The occurrence of Pelliciera outside the Neotropics had been debated based on a few fossil pollen records from Africa and Europe, though many of these records have been [...]
Miocene ant-mealybug trophobiosis imaged with X-Ray micro-computed tomography
Published: 2024-10-26
Subjects: Paleobiology, Paleontology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Amber is a remarkable preserving medium for Mesozoic and Cenozoic terrestrial biotas, but even when transparency is good, available viewing angles can be limited. The technique of X-ray micro-computed tomography allows inspection from any desired viewpoint and facilitates detailed anatomical measurements, avoiding parallax errors. Here, I show the use of this technique to study an extremely rare [...]
Discussion of Košťák et al. (2021), Fossil evidence for vampire squid inhabiting oxygen-depleted ocean zones since at least the Oligocene.
Published: 2024-10-23
Subjects: Geology, Paleontology
Košťák et al. (2021) is important in presenting the first known Cenozoic fossil of a vampyromorph. Some modifications to the interpretations are needed, however. The first concerns inferring water depth habitat of non-benthic animals from fossils found in deep water sediments. The second concerns the water depth estimates for the La Voulte-sur-Rhône exceptionally preserved biota (La Voulte EPB), [...]
deeptime: an R package that facilitates highly customizable visualizations of data over geological time intervals
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Stratigraphy
Data visualization is a key component of any scientific data analysis workflow and is vital for the summarization and dissemination of complex ideas and results. One common hurdle across the Earth Sciences and other scientific fields remains the effective and reproducible visualization of data over long time intervals (104 – 107 years). Here I introduce the R package deeptime, which provides [...]
Taphonomic Controls on a Multi-Element Skeletal Fossil Record
Published: 2024-08-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Animals with multi-element skeletons, including the vertebrates, echinoderms, and arthropods, are some of the most biodiverse and ecologically important animal groups. Understanding the relative impact of the myriad geological and biological factors which impact on the quality of multi-element skeletal fossils is thus crucial for disentangling perceived changes in biodiversity through time and [...]
The potential of terrestrial and aquatic molluscs for the temporal analysis of Deckenschotter deposits and younger Quaternary sediments from the Swiss Plateau
Published: 2024-05-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Stratigraphy, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
WITHDRAWN: The potential of terrestrial and aquatic molluscs for the temporal analysis of Deckenschotter deposits and younger Quaternary sediments from the Swiss Plateau
Published: 2024-02-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Rapa Nui Little Ice Age drought: evidence, potential causes and socioecological impact
Published: 2024-01-12
Subjects: Paleontology, Sedimentology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
A decade ago, an island-wide drought was proposed to have occurred on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) during the Little Ice Age (LIA). This climatic event was considered to be important for ecological and cultural transformations that occurred on the island during the 16th and 17th centuries. Independent multiproxy paleoecological and paleoclimatic evidence produced in the last years supports the [...]
How agriculture, droughts and diseases shaped the island environments of Remote Oceania over the last Millennium
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Paleontology, Sedimentology
Over the past millennium, the Pacific Islands have experienced significant transformations, caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, the paucity of archeological records coupled with the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific hinders our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we employ a multi-proxy approach on [...]
Wetter climate favouring early Lapita horticulture in Remote Oceania
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Paleontology, Sedimentology
The islands of Remote Oceania were among the last places on Earth colonised by humans. Lapita seafarers carrying with them an extensive root-tuber-tree crop complex and domestic animals, rapidly transformed nearly all of these previously unoccupied islands. However, the timing of initial Lapita settlements and the early introduction of horticulture remain a matter of debate as significant changes [...]
Transgression–regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran–Cambrian rock and fossil records
Published: 2023-11-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Statistical Methodology, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
Strata of the Ediacaran Period (635–538.8 Ma) yield the oldest known fossils of complex, macroscopic organisms in the geologic record. These “Ediacaran-type” macrofossils (known as the Ediacaran biota) first appear in mid-Ediacaran strata, experience an apparent decline through the terminal Ediacaran, and directly precede the Cambrian (538.8–485.4 Ma) radiation of animals. Existing hypotheses for [...]
Middle Miocene vegetation of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula), as inferred from fossil pollen records: state of the art and future prospects
Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Other Plant Sciences, Paleontology
In the Mediterranean region, the study of fossil pollen has provided a comprehensive spatiotemporal paleoclimatic and paleovegetational picture of the Neogene flora and vegetation. The NW Mediterranean sector is a reference area for the study of vertebrate evolution, especially during the Middle Miocene, but paleofloristic and paleovegetational patterns are much less known, which hinders placing [...]
Spatial standardization of taxon occurrence data—a call to action
Published: 2023-10-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Statistical Methodology
The fossil record is spatiotemporally heterogeneous: taxon occurrence data have patchy spatial distributions, and this patchiness varies through time. Large-scale quantitative paleobiology studies that fail to account for heterogeneous sampling coverage will generate uninformative inferences at best and confidently draw wrong conclusions at worst. Explicitly spatial methods of standardization are [...]
Mind the uncertainty: Global plate model choice impacts deep-time palaeobiological studies
Published: 2023-06-23
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 [...]
Diamond open access with preregistration: a new publishing model for palaeontology
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Paleontology
The current academic publishing model is systemically unfit for purpose. The academic publishing ecosystem is dominated by a few large for-profit publishing houses which, at every stage of the publication process, transform academic work and public resources into private profit. Although extracting substantial profits, these publishing houses themselves add little value to the final published [...]