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Palaeontologia Electronica, 2016
Mountain Geologist, 2022
Science is a verb. Its approach, the scientific method, brings us closer to understanding nature through discovery and hypothesis testing. In most deep-time and deep-Earth science, complete understanding is unachievable. Fortunately, we move closer to it with each new generation of scientists, creating frameworks of knowledge that evolve with ever-more-refined observations, interpretations, and hypotheses. The field of paleontology epitomizes this phenomenon, and its evolution is intimately tied to fossils and strata of the Rocky Mountains. Using examples from the American West, the ensuing article highlights how a field anchored in the archaic has a very bright future—because paleontology has grown to help our community answer Earth-science questions spanning tectonics, climate, the evolutionary history of life, and beyond.
Palaeontologia Electronica
Palaeontology Newsletter, 2023
2012
Due to its richness in fossil localities and Fossil-Lagerstatten, France played a major role in the 18th and 19th centuries in establishing paleontology and biostratigraphy as scientific disciplines. The French naturalist and zoologist Cuvier (1769-1832) established the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology, and proposed the concept of 'catastrophism' in geology. The naturalist Lamarck (1744-1829) is considered the founder of invertebrate paleontology and biostratigraphy and an early pioneer in the studies of evolution, developing the idea of 'transformism' and creating the word 'fossil', while his successor Blainville (1777-1850) was the first to use the word 'paleontology'. Based on this rich heritage, numerous French scientists strengthened paleontology as an important discipline during the 19th and 20th centuries. Paleontology was present at the universities of most major French cities, as documented by the rich collections in over 50 nat...
2010
SUMMARY German paleontology has a long tradition and is still very active and innovative in many fields. Fields with the highest impacts are Neogene to Recent micropaleontology with paleoceanographic and climate focus as well as geobiology and paleoecology. Systematic paleontology is well represented in Germany and leading taxonomic expertise is present for many groups although the impact of this research is necessarily low.
2017
Paleontology is an interdisciplinary field that attracts a range of individuals, from hobbyists to professionals. A primary goal of the NSF-funded FOSSIL Project is to establish a unified community of paleontologists and promote best practices in the field of paleontology. The Belgrade PaleoBlitz was a pilot effort to meet these goals by guiding participants through the museum curation process via a rapid two-day immersion. The objectives of the PaleoBlitz event were to: 1) educate participants in best practices associated with the museum curation process, and 2) catalog specimens collected from the Belgrade Quarry into the Florida Museum of Natural History vertebrate paleontology collections. These objectives seek to find a balance between educating participants and contributing to science. A pre-event application dispersed to amateur paleontology clubs throughout the United States determined applicants’ baseline content knowledge and practices. To facilitate learning and promote n...
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2016
Palaeontologia Electronica , 2010
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2020
We evaluated the current inventory and monitoring practices at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (JODA) with an analysis of fossil yield based on locality data. While JODA covers a range of fossiliferous Cenozoic rock, most paleontological fieldwork conducted by the park staff occurs in the highly fossiliferous Oligocene Turtle Cove Member of the John Day Formation. To optimize the number of fossils collected, JODA established a schedule that cycled fieldwork every four years between the five most fossiliferous areas of the park. We digitized over 1000 field collections from 1999- 2019 to evaluate whether the four-year return interval allowed enough time for new fossils to be exposed through erosion in an area between visits as intended by the schedule. We found no significant difference in fossil yield between areas that had not been visited for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5+ years. Based on these results, we infer that the claystones of the Turtle Cove Member are erodible and fossiliferous enough that one winter of erosion will expose enough fossils to fully “recharge” an area that had been thoroughly inventoried the previous year. Because of limited staff and high fossil yield, not every fossil will be collected. Therefore, we use this analysis to shift JODA’s paleontological inventory and monitoring practices away from a rigid schedule and propose a flexible new system. The paleontology staff will use a tracker geodatabase of locality data from past years to set priorities each year based on past collection and current available staff and space.
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2015
Palaeontologia Electronica
Palaeontologia electronica, 2001
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2001
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2010
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2015
Palaeontologia Electronica
Time of Nature and the Nature of Time, 2017
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2017
Palaeontologia Electronica
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2011
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2019
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2020
Palaeontologia Electronica
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2016
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2021
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The Paleontological Society Papers, 2016
Palaeontologia Electronica
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2019
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Palaeontologia Electronica, 2016
Palaeontologia Electronica, 2016