bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Graphic correlation of deep sea and shallow marine deposits from the Central American Isthmus region: implications for Late Neogene paleoclimatology
Authors: Dowsett Harry J. 
Published: January 2018

The stratigraphic record in Panama and Costa Rica preserves the biologic and climatic changes associated with the formation of a major barrier to marine migration and ocean circulation. Creating a high resolution temporal framework within which stratigraphic sections found on the Isthmus can be interpreted is fundamental to our understanding the history and importance of these units.The Isthmus contains rich marine macro- and microfaunas and floras on both the Pacific and Atlantic margins. Planktic foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils are common and often well preserved. Preliminary analysis of these fossils reveals a rich sedimentary record spanning the Late Miocene to Pleistocene. Multivariate statistical analyses of these assemblages provide environmental estimates. Unfortunately, traditional methods of biostratigraphy are limited in their ability to create a high resolution temporal framework for the region. For example, a majority of deposits analyzed can be placed in planktic foraminiferal zone N19 (early Pliocene). In order to answer paleobiologic and paleoclimatic questions one requires more precise correlations between sections and some indication of duration of sedimentation represented by various sections.In an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of traditional biostratigraphic methods, the Graphic Correlation method has been applied to selected sequences on the Central American Isthmus. Graphic correlation (GC) is a procedure by which two sequences can be compared and correlated using a wide variety of stratigraphic information simultaneously. A GC model of late Neogene planktic foraminifer, calcareous nannofossil, and paleomagnetic reversal events has been produced through compositing of more than 26 deep sea cores and ocean margin sequences. Following routine GC procedures the positions of all fossil first and last occurrences from a number of sections on the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the Central American Isthmus (Panama and Costa Rica) have been recorded. These sections have been correlated to the GC model and hence, to each other, providing a temporal framework for the Isthmus units.Selected sections were then correlated to other sequences such as near-by deep sea cores which have been analyzed for sea surface temperature and salinity to gain a better understanding of the overall paleoceanographic development of the region between 5 and 2 Ma. For example, correlation of units on the Caribbean side of the Isthmus with DSDP Site 502 indicates little to no change in sea surface temperatures during the entire time the Isthmus was reaching closure. Mid-to-high latitude sites exhibit amplification of warming with increasing latitude. The shoaling Isthmus, while having negligible effects on tropical marine temperatures, was responsible for increased meridional heat transport which resulted in a North Atlantic warming about 3 Ma. A general model for paleoceanographic changes during the time of closure will be discussed.
Morphometric and phylogenetic analyses of the Paleozoic Subulitoidea (Gastropoda)
Authors: Erwin Douglas H. 
Published: January 2018

The gastropod superfamily Subulitoidea first appeared during the Early-Middle Ordovician gastropod radiation, seemingly from within the pleurotomarid family Lophospiridea, and persisted with low diversity and generally low abundance through the Paleozoic. One species survived the end-Permian mass extinction, but like many other Paleozoic remnants, the clade became extinct in the mid-Triassic. Many members of the clade are homeomorphic with later ‘neogastropods' and have frequently been fingered as the ancestors of these later, predatory gastropods. There is however, no direct evidence for an ancestor-descendent relationship. Addressing this possibility and understanding of the systematics and evolutionary history of the clade has been complicated by relatively simple shell form and apparent paucity of shell characters. The strength of the morphological and probable ecologic similarities between subulitids and ‘neogastropods' raises the question why this clade was unable to capitalize on their position as perhaps the only predatory gastropods during the Paleozoic. Such questions of evolutionary history are best addressed within the context of a combination of morphometric and phylogenetic analyses which may resolve the systematic questions and reveal something of the evolutionary relationships of the clade.Morphometric analyses were performed on some 40 specimens covering the 13 described genera (and several undescribed forms). Both linear and angular measurements of external shell form and internal structure from axial thin sections were measured and apertures were analyzed using elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA). The number of specimens analyzed was intentionally limited because of difficulties obtaining specimens with sufficient preservation of the aperture. The results demonstrate the necessity, for this clade at least, of including a more complex description of apertural morphology than simple maximum length and width. Principle component analyses of the EFA data distinguishes complexity of the columellar folds along the first axis and basal rounding along the second - both biologically meaningful aspects of apertural form. Moreover, the occupation of a taxon-specific apertural space defined by the PCA increases through the Paleozoic. Further, the analyses suggest that the two traditionally recognized subfamilies of the Subulitidae (Ordovician-Devonian and Devonian-Triassic) each exhibit increased variance in the occupation of morphologic space, but additional data is required to confirm this pattern and determine if any temporal trends exist.Analyzing patterns of occupation of morphologic space requires a rigorously constructed phylogeny. A cladistic (parsimony) analysis of the superfamily was performed using 16 taxa and over 30 discrete morphologic characters. The resulting cladograms were plotted within the taxon-specific morphospaces produced by the morphometric analyses.
Bioturbational structures in the North Atlantic: new approaches for studying cores
Authors: Fu Shaoping , Werner Friedrich 
Published: January 2018

General environmental correlation, established for trace fossils, is hard to apply to modern sediment cores, for which environmental factors can be measured directly - at least with regard to the top layers. Reasons for this difficulty are obvious: (1) Outcrop volume is limited by the core diameter. (2) Biogenic structures are hard to see, because they have not yet been “developed” by diagenetic processes. (3) Cores are traditionally studied in vertical cuts, in which search patterns parallel to bedding plane - typical for deep-sea environment - are poorly expressed. Therefore cores from the North Atlantic were studied not only by traditional X-ray radiography (both vertical and horizontal cuts), but by computer tomography (CT), which renders series of sections parallel to the bedding plane, as well as a three-dimensional picture, without destroying the valuable core.On the Iceland-Faeroe Ridge, the distribution of ichnocoenoses appears to be largely controlled by microenvironments in connection with local channel systems and their lateral migration. In a local, ridge-parallel channel system at the southern slope, a core from the NE flank shows a vertical alternation of Zoophycos, Trichichnus, and Planolites communities correlating with fluctuations of CaCO3 and the fraction >63μm. In contrast to this, on the opposite slope, sediments are uniform and dominated by Scolicia. On the colder N slope of the ridge, topography is more uniform and the water motion is sluggish. The characteristic and dominant ichnogenus is Chondrites. On top of the ridge the sediment cover becomes very thin, contains large amounts of dropstones, but still Chondrites is dominant.
The stapedial morphology of the Xenarthra and its implications for higher-level mammalian relationships
Authors: Gaudin Timothy J. , Turnbull William D. 
Published: January 2018

The mammalian order Xenarthra (including the living Neotropical armadillos, anteaters, and tree sloths) has figured importantly in recent hypotheses of interordinal relationships among eutherian mammals. It has been suggested that the group shares a common ancestry both with the extant Old World order Pholidota (i.e. the pangolins or scaly-anteaters) and the extinct North American group Palaeanodonta. Furthermore, these three groups have been linked together into a monophyletic Cohort Edentata, which has been hypothesized to represent the sister-group to all other eutherians. This placement of edentates relative to the remainder of Eutheria has been supported in part by a purported difference in the morphology of the stapes in the two groups- edentates possessing a primitive, imperforate/columelliform morphology, other placentals a derived, perforate/stirrup-shaped morphology.A recent study of stapedial morphology among mammals by Novacek and Wyss (1986) suggests that within the Xenarthra itself a perforate stapes is found among armadillos, but that the pilosa in particular (the clade including anteaters and sloths) and the order as a whole are characterized primitively by an imperforate stapes. Our studies of the xenarthran ear region (Patterson et al., in press) have uncovered new ontogenetic and paleontological evidence which contradict the findings of Novacek and Wyss. Among adults of the two extant tree sloth genera, the stapes lacks a stapedial foramen. However, in both genera, this adult imperforate morphology is derived from a perforated juvenile stapes. Novacek and Wyss ignored fossil species in their consideration of the xenarthran stapes. It has long been known that extinct ground sloths of the family Mylodontidae possessed a large stapedial foramen. Unfortunately, until now no stapes were known from the remaining ground sloth families, the Megatheriidae and the Megalonychidae. We have uncovered a complete left stapes of an early Miocene megatheriid ground sloth Eucholoeops ingens. This stapes possesses a well-developed stapedial foramen. We believe that this new paleontological evidence, combined with our information on the ontogeny of the stapes in the living genera, clearly indicates that a perforate stapes is primitive for sloths. Moreover, when we plot distributions of stapedial morphologies of both living and fossil edentates onto a phylogeny of the Edentata, we can demonstrate that the a large stapedial foramen is primitive for the Xenarthra as a whole, and probably for the entire Cohort Edentata. Such a distribution makes it unlikely that stapedial morphology can be used to separate edentates from other eutherian mammals.
The isotopic record of Miocene-Recent environmental changes in shallow marine habitats on either side of the Panamanian isthmus
Authors: Geary Dana H. , Teranes Jane L. , Bemis Bryan E. 
Published: January 2018

The Pliocene uplift of the Panamanian isthmus isolated previously contiguous Caribbean and eastern Pacific marine faunas, and initiated the development of different selective regimes on opposing sides of the barrier. Contrasting environmental conditions provided the context for different rates and kinds of evolutionary change on either side of the isthmus. The goal of our study is to characterize the rates and types of these paleoenvironmental changes; we employ stable isotopic profiles of venerid bivalve shells from the Miocene-Recent deposits of Panama and Costa Rica.We analyzed geographic and depth variation in Recent shells as a means of calibrating the fossil analyses. Results from Recent venerids highlight the differences between the Caribbean and eastern Pacific shallow marine environments. Pacific shells typically exhibit strong annual fluctuations in δ18O, associated with seasonal upwelling and its associated cool waters. In shallow, near-shore habitats, freshwater runoff during the rainy season also contributes significantly to annual δ18O cycles. Caribbean shells exhibit negligible annual cyclicity.We analyzed fossil shells from the Miocene Gatun Formation, and the Pliocene Cayo Agua, Escudo de Veraguas, and Rio Banano Formations from the Caribbean coast, and the Plio-Pleistocene Charco Azul Group from the Pacific coast. Results from fossil shells indicate that annual cycles are well-preserved, and not obscured by diagenesis or other alteration. A strong annual signal in δ18O (amplitude >1.5‰) is found back at least to the Early Pleistocene along the Pacific coast. Some post-uplift Caribbean samples exhibit stronger seasonality than that observed in similar habitats today.
Response of North American mammal communities to late Quaternary environmental fluctuations
Authors: Graham Russell W. 
Published: January 2018

The late Quaternary was a time of rapid environmental fluctuations. The last glacial maximum was reached about 20 ka with continental glaciers covering most of Canada as well as the northeastern and upper midwestern United States (U.S.). Glacial ice physically displaced entire terrestrial biomes and the cooler climates altered distributions of species outside of the glacial limits. About 14 ka, the climate began to warm rapidly and glacial ice retreated northward, opening new landscapes for colonization by terrestrial biotas. Maximum warmth was reached between 9–5 ka with a time transgressive progression from west to east.Radiocarbon chronologies allow for fine scale (100's to 1000's of years) resolution of mammal responses to these changes. Mammal communities did not respond as intact units but individual species shifted diachronically along environmental gradients. As a result, many late Pleistocene mammal communities contain associations of extant species that do not occur together today and appear to be ecologically incompatible. Pleistocene mammal communities also had a greater diversity of species than either Holocene or modern ones. This greater diversity was, in part, due to the existence of a diverse megafauna that became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene (10 ka). However, Pleistocene small mammal guilds with extant species, especially insectivores and microtine rodents, were also more diverse. Rapid changes in small mammal species distributions, diversity patterns, and clinal shifts around 10 ka strengthens environmental models for the end-Pleistocene extinction.Modern mammal communities began to appear at the end of the Pleistocene and into the Holocene. In the eastern U.S., the species composition of these communities has been stable for the last 10 ka, although vegetational communities have shown change throughout the Holocene. In other parts of the U.S., middle Holocene warming caused some species to shift their geographic ranges. However, species composition of communities was not significantly altered. Understanding these changes not only provides a better perspective for viewing mammal communities of the past but it may also give insight into those of the future as climate will continue to vacillate, whether induced naturally or anthropogenically.
Reconciling the lithologic and paleobotanic records of climatic change during the Pennsylvanian
Authors: Gyllenhaal Eric D. 
Published: January 2018

Both lithologic and paleobotanic data have been used to construct climatic curves for the Pennsylvanian of the Appalachian Basin (Figure 1). The strengths and weaknesses of each type of evidence must be considered when reconciling these data into a composite curve. (1) The calibrated lithologic curve is based ultimately on the geographic ranges of sediments and soils relative to modern precipitation. Although it provides quantitative estimates of precipitation, the calibrated curve cannot detect minor fluctuations in climate, and time-averaging of range data can lead to an over-estimate of the rate of climatic change. (2) The geochemical model, although uncalibrated, uses essentially the same data as the calibrated curve. It avoids some of the problems of time-averaging by incorporating rough estimates of abundance. Although the long-term curve portrays a uniform climate during the earlier Pennsylvanian, lithologic data may be insensitive to climatic fluctuations in extremely wet climates. (3) The abundance of arborescent lycopods in coal may be a useful climatic indicator through much of the Pennsylvanian, but its usefulness in the Mississippian (before the evolution of non-lycopod swamp trees) and the latest Pennsylvanian (after a major extinction of arborescent lycopods) must be questioned. (4) The abundance of coal resources (as with any other climatic indicator) depends on many factors other than climate. The lack of congruence between the coal abundance curve and the other curves emphasizes the importance of including non-climatic factors in any model that predicts coal resources based on paleoclimate.The composite curve takes its overall shape from the geochemical model, quantifies it using the calibrated curve, and details climatic trends in the wet lower Pennsylvanian based on lycopod abundance data. The major weakness of the composite curve is that it ignores potential variations in seasonality of precipitation.
Changes in predatory behavior & efficiency: gastropod drilling patterns in Miocene-Pliocene Turritella (Gastropoda)
Authors: Hagadorn James W. , Boyajian George E. 
Published: January 2018

The escalation of predator-prey interactions over the Phanerozoic is described as an “arms race” among the Gastropoda. Examples of escalation have been extensively documented on the scale of hundreds of millions of years, however, these patterns are not well documented on shorter time scales. Effective escalation of prey defenses should cause a drop in predatory efficiency. We study the efficiency of Naticid and Muricid predation upon Turritelline gastropods from the Miocene to the Pliocene. These predators leave a well preserved trace of predation in the form of a borehole in the shell of the prey. This study focuses on 18 species of Miocene and Pliocene Turritella from the southeastern United States. Over five thousand individual shells were examined and measured, collected from 13 localities from Maryland to southern Florida.Predatory efficiency is determined by a number of factors: shell thickness at drillhole site, vertical location of drillhole, percent of shells that have multiple drillholes, and percent of shells that contain incomplete drillholes. Shell thickness at drillhole and location of drillhole are measured because predators would benefit by expending less energy drilling into the thinnest part of the shell that is nearest the visceral mass of the prey. Multiple complete boreholes represent at least one failure to obtain food. Incomplete boreholes represent a drilling attempt which has failed to produce food at the cost of metabolic energy.While the intensity of Naticid and Muricid predation of Turritella increases (χ2, α<.01), predators become less efficient from the Miocene to the Pliocene. Decreased predatory efficiency is indicated by an increase in the number of shells with multiple and incomplete drilling sites (χ2, α<.01). Although predators appear to have little radial preference, they indicate strong vertical preference for centrally located drilling sites (t-test, α<.01). Predators appear to be drilling into thicker parts of Turritelline shells and thus expending more energy in drilling -however, this pattern is not statistically significant (χ2, α>.20).We show that the efficiency of Naticid and Muricid predators decreased from the Miocene to Pliocene. Decreased efficiency of predators might result from newly evolved structural changes in prey shells, new prey escape responses or problems in predator recognition of live versus dead prey shells resulting from high densities of both living and dead individuals.It remains to be seen whether predatory efficiency declines over longer time scales. In light of previous studies which have concentrated on evolution in the shell shape and ornamentation of prey in response to predators, a more promising and direct measure of the efficiency of predation may lie in the study of the frequency of multiple and incompletely drilled shells. By this method we might better judge the effectiveness of defense mechanisms and the evolutionary significance of predator-prey escalation.
Ecophenotypic and geographic constraints in a microevolutionary study of a rhabdomesid bryozoan
Authors: Hageman Steven J. 
Published: January 2018

Documentation of microevolutionary changes in morphologic character complexes through geologic time, especially across speciation events, is one of the most significant contributions that paleontologists can provide to evolutionary biology. Papers treating patterns of evolution have established criteria required for the study of microevolution, which include: wide geographic coverage, a sequence of closely spaced samples, well defined taxa and rigorous biometric testing of large samples. Many excellent empirical studies of microevolution have taken great steps to maximize temporal resolution and to improve numerical treatment of data. Factors of ecophenotypic and geographic variation, however, have been neglected in most microevolutionary studies.Late Paleozoic cyclothems of the North American midcontinent, with their fine stratigraphic resolution and well documented paleoenvironments that can be correlated over large geographic distances, provide a unique opportunity to study patterns of microevolution and concomitant ecophenotypic and geographic variation. Bryozoans are well suited for studies that require large morphometric data sets, because of their relative abundance, complexity, and the fact that fragmentary material can provide tenable data. Due to their colonial nature, limits of phenotypic versus genotypic variation.In order determine the effects of geographic variation among the rhabdomesid genus Streblotrypa (Cryptostomata, Bryozoa), specimens were collected from nine localities, all taken from the lowermost six inches of the Winzeler Shale (Virgilian) distributed along a 300 km transect from south-central Kansas to northeastern Kansas. Data were collected from five specimens per locality, all from nearly identical paleoenvironments, and of very nearly the same age. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis demonstrate some differences among the groups, however, no morphologic trends are found to correspond to geographic distributions, nor can specimens be readily assigned to locality based on morphology.A strong genetic control within colonies is apparent. Individual observations (composite OTU's) can be assigned to the specimen from which they were measured with a very high degree of confidence. Variation between environments at the same locality over the shortest possible time span (estimated in the magnitude of 104 years) is currently being tested by analyzing data collected from the next unit above, a limestone with interbedded shales. Data from three other localities of similar environment, but significantly different age (+3 Ma), are also being analyzed to further test the degree of morphologic variation with environment verses time.Results obtained using standard multivariate techniques applied to morphometric data are building a composite picture of the characteristics of microevolutionary change within Streblotrypa.