Paleontology in Decline: Making Fossils Live Again

1. Paleontology in Decline:Making Fossils Live Again Todd A. Radenbaugh, PhD Research Fellow Canadian Plains Research Center Geological Society of America 16-19th,October, 2005 Salt Lake City, UT

2. On May 5, 1925, biology teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in violation of Tennessee state law. August 11, 2005 Evolution Under Siege

3. NEW Monkey Trials Pennsylvania school board's decision to teach both intelligent design and evolution Apr 2004 New Mexico Schools Could Enter Battle Over 'Intelligent Design' (The Washington Post) By Martha Raffaele, Page A07, October 09, 2005 http://www.theonion.com

4. Compatibility with a young-earth creationist position required… New Vision of the Future? Geologist wanted: Posted January, 2005 from: COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES- Dr. R Hawkins, Dean. Geology: Ph.D. required. Teaching Introductory Geology, Paleontology, and History of Life. Contact: Liberty University 1971 University Boulevard, Lynchburg, Virginia 24502 434-582-2000 http://www.liberty.edu/Administration/HumanResources/index.cfm?PID=4353

5. Making Paleontology Relevant Paleontology courses need to be made more relevant in geology and environmental science departments’ curricula. • The economy is dependent on fossil fuels. • Anthropogenic forced climate change, habitat loss, and alteration of natural selection pressures has caused extinctions and extensive changes. No longer concentrate on only morphology and taxonomy.

6. Paleontology in Virginia Virginia Universities – Bachelor Programs Public (n=15) Geology Programs = 5 (33%) Geology Classes = 12 (80%) Paleo Classes = 7 (47%) College of William and Mary (2) George Mason University James Madison University Old Dominion University (2) Radford University (2) University of Mary Washington Virginia Tech (2) Private (n=22) Geology Programs = 1 (5%) Geology Classes = 12 (55%) Paleo Classes = 2 (9%) Virginia Wesleyan College Washington and Lee

7. Most Geology classes are Taught in Environmental Studies Departments 37 Virginia Universities – Bachelor Programs

8. Retooling Paleontology Make room for Paleo and macroevolution classes in the environmental science curricula • Link recent environmental change to its geologic history • Use evidence from paleoecology and glean lessons for society and economy.

9. Two examples Two examples of how to use paleontological theory relevant to today’s environmental science programs: • Ediacaran Fauna Reconstruction • To show different ecological rules of assembly • 2. Comparisons between Modern and Paleozoic Ecospace Use • Extinctions - past and present

10. Ediacaran Fauna Example • 650 to 540 Million years ago • frond-like forms, jellyfish-like imprints, and trace fossils. • Perhaps evolved as nutrient supplies increased in shallow waters • causing a radiation of trophic links in food webs Photo Credit: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/critters.html

11. Garden of Ediacara • A time when today’s rules of ecological assembly did not apply. • No major predators • Few mobile fauna • Dominated by suspension feeding

12. Ediacaran Fauna Clay reconstructions

13. Ediacaran Fauna Complete reconstructions of students

14. Ecospace Example Ecospace: ecological resources used by species based on adaptive morphologies (bauplan), space utilization, and food sources From Bambach (1983) Megaguild: Summation of the guilds occupied by a species or group of species.

15. Shallow Marine Megaguilds Through Time

16. Tiering and Bulldozing Trace Fossil From Ausich and Bottjer 1982

17. Irregular echinoids Sponges Crab burrows Crinoids Columinals Brachiopods Blastoid reconstruction Bryozoans Gastropods Pelcypods Paleozoic Bulldozing – Changes in Ecological Rules of Assembly Bulldozers Victims

18. Ecospace Comparisons of a Modern and Late Paleozoic Assemblage Megaguild Key EpS = Epibenthic suspension SEnS = Shallow endobenthic suspension DEnS = Deep endobenthic suspension SENSD = shallow endobenthic surface deposit DEnSD = Deep endobenthic surface deposit P/H = Predator or Herbivore

19. Assemblage restructuring. • Changing resource use -> new organisms create or occupy new niches and guilds. • Guild decline and species extinction -> Decline or loss of old niches and guilds. • Speciation -> Vacant niches are filled by newly evolved species, some are similar to previous ones but new guilds cause different assemblage types (change in rules how species associations are structured). Ecosystem Stability Stable ecosystems: • Persistence of similar niches and guilds within species assemblages, and the same lineages occupy these niches and guilds for extended periods of geological time (3-7 m.y.). • Little selection pressure and speciation.

20. Are We Changing the Landscape? • What broad scale changes to biotic structure have occurred as a result of human activities similar to those in the fossil record? • Can human activities act as a selection force with the capacity to change the functional roles and assembly rules at the ecosystem level?

21. Estimation of Vegetation ChangesMixed Grassland Ecoregion of Saskatchewan Sources: Pre-1880 - Archibold and Wilson (1980) 1990s - Statistics Canada, 1986, 1991 and 1996 Agricultural Census and the South Digital Land Cover

22. Foraging Method Dabbler Diver Gleaner Picker Prober Sallier Stalker Swooper Foraging Habitat Brush/woodland Grassland Wetland Other Nesting Habitat Cavity Cliff Ground Floating Mat Vegetation Diet Seeds Omnivore Aquatic -invertebrates -vertebrates -vegetation Terrestrial -invertebrates -vertebrates -vegetation Adapted form Bambach (1985) Ecospace for Birds

23. Circa 1900 1990’s Species Richness110 133 Species Diversity*1.89 2.11 Total Species = 135 Horn’s Index of Similarity* = 0.77 Match Coefficient = 0.80 * Calculated using the Shannon-Weiner index : the relative abundance score was substituted for number of individuals. Bird Assemblages Comparisons

24. Guild and Habitat Trends ** * ** * ** Significance: ** p<0.01; *p<0.05 by Mann-Whitney test

25. Similar scale those in the fossil record. At this rate we may loose 20% of families or 55% of species in the next 100 years. From Raup and Sepkoski 1992 Extinctions • Extinction rate 100 to 1,000 times more rapid than before human domination – one species every hour to minute • “…two-thirds of all species of plants, animals and organisms could be lost in the second half of the next century.” Peter Raven, 2003

26. Extinction Recovery How long does it take to recover from a mass extinction event? The origination rate peaks about 20 million years after the peak in extinction rates From Sepkoski's 1998

27. Conclusions • Using paleoecology analogs, we can show that current trends are changing the landscape in terms of: • resource use • regional species composition • Evolution’s influences on the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and solid earth making it a key topic in environmental science departments. • Paleontology tell us how ecosystem structure has changed, and how it might change. • Regional natural selection forces are diversifying and evolutionary changes as seen in the fossil record may be occurring.

28. Future? If current declining trends towards paleontology continue, there will be negative long-term consequences to science and society in understanding our future.