Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist
Combining Science and Joyful Creativity
#365papers for February 21, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses diversity (the number and kinds of species present at any one time) in pterosaurs – the flying reptiles – and how what we think the diversity was might be a product of bias in the rock record. We know that the fossil record is incomplete, but just how incomplete is it?Continue reading “How Not to be Biased Against Pterosaurs – #365papers – 2017 – 52”
#365papers for February 20, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper describes the fossils from four of early Triassic localities that have been correlated to be the same age. It is mostly descriptive of the fossils found.Continue reading “After the Mother of All Extinctions, an Unexpected Triassic Fauna – #365papers – 2017 – 51”
#365papers for February 14, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses the nature of the boundary between two adjacent North American Land Mammal “Ages” (NALMAs). NALMAs are defined by the presence or absence of certain mammal species and are usually quite different in species composition. The 136 localities studied here bracket the Torrejonian-Tiffanian boundary, so we can examine the transition more closely.Continue reading “Doctoral Day! – Mammals of the Torrejonian-Tiffanian (Paleocene) Transition – #365papers – 2017 – 45”
#365papers for February 13, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper uses measurements of stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen from tooth enamel to interpret past mean annual precipitation and other climatic variables for two caves in Wyoming. Continue reading “The Last Glacial Maximum in Wyoming. A Story From Tooth Enamel – #365papers – 2017 – 44”
#365papers for February 10, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses how we can determine how altered a geochemical signal in a fossil bone or tooth might be, comparing bones and teeth that fossilized in both freshwater (river) and marine (ocean) environments. The authors used collagen content, nitrogen content, and the abundance of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) to attempt to estimate alteration.Continue reading “How Do the Early Processes of Fossilization Affect the Chemistry of Bones and Teeth? – #365papers – 2017 – 41”
#365papers for February 9, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses the kinds of decisions that must be made by conservation biologists when trying to save species and ecosystems. These decisions depend on the overall goals of conservation: the maintain and restore current ecosystems, to save species, or to maximize biodiversity for example. These decisions can be informed by paleobiology.Continue reading “How Can Paleobiology Help Conservation Efforts? – #365papers – 2017 – 40”
#365papers for February 8, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper describes oxygen isotope ratios from modern freshwater snails and how the values and patterns of intra-shell analyses relate to the overall climate of a region. These patterns are then compared with Paleocene-Eocene aged gastropods to get at ancient climate. Some marine snails were also studied to see how they compare with freshwater snails. Strontium was also used to help get at the amount and timing of precipitation and weathering in a region.Continue reading “Fresh water and marine snails from 55 million years ago – #365papers – 2017 – 39”
#365papers for February 6, 2017
What’s it about?
Translating the title into English explains what the paper is about:
When bones and teeth fossilize, their mineral component (bioapatite) changes its crystal shape and size as well as undergoes some chemical changes. How big of a problem is that if you are trying to use the chemistry of the fossil to understand the life and environment of the animal?Continue reading “The Effects of Fossilization on Bones – #365papers – 2017 – 37”
#365papers for February 4, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses the use of geochemistry (specifically stable isotopes) of fossil snail shells to understand past environments. It looks especially on comparing results from whole shell analysis (grinding the whole shell up and putting it into the mass spectrometer) against serial or intra-shell analyses, where multiple samples are collected from a single shell.Continue reading “Snail Shells, Climate, and Weather – #365papers – 2017 – 35”
#365 papers for February 3, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper seeks to show that what we’ve been saying we can do with the geochemistry of snail shells (especially oxygen isotopes) can actually be done. This paper shows that there is a relationship between oxygen isotopes in rainfall and those of snail body fluids. The relationship between isotopic signatures of body fluids and shells is then shown.Continue reading “More Tales from Land Snails – #365papers – 2017 – 34”
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist