Paleontologists 2 - Finding Fossils

false (1832)

Cuvier died in 1847.

Name a major paleontological contribution that Cuvier made (that we went over).

(all of the following have to do w/ paleontology)

• provided a lot of evidence for extinction

• reconstructions of extinct lifeforms

• 1st scientist to publish work about a flying reptile (a pterosaur)

• provided scientific evidence to back up catastrophism

• work w/ rock strata helped w/ principle of faunal succession

Alfred Romer

Born: 1894

• White Plains, NY

• Harry Houston Romer & Evalyn Sherwood

• Wife: Ruth Hibbard

Died: 1973

• Cambridge, Mass.

Romer education

• White Plains HS

• BS: Biology degree at Amherst College

• M.Sc & PhD: Zoology degrees at Columbia University

Romer positions

• Instructor of Anatomy at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in NYC

• Associate professor at University of Chicago, Dept. of Geology & Paleontology (1923)

• Professor of Biology at Harvard University (1934)

• Director of Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (1946)

Romer societies

• 1st president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

• National Academy of Science

• Foreign Member of the Royal Society

Romer awards

• Mary Clark Thompson Medal

• Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal

• Hayden Memorial Geological Award

• Penrose Medal

• Paleontological Society Medal

• Linnean Medal

• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement

• Wollaston Medal

Romer contributions pt. 1

• leading contributor of vertebrate paleontology throughout much of 20th century

• founder & 1st president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

• textbook — Vertebrate Paleontology

• educator at all levels

  • public presentations, classroom lectures, & supervisor of >25 graduate students

Romer contributions pt. 2

• ancestry of vertebrates, Paleozoic tetrapods, & antecedents of mammals

• united the entire discipline w/ his concepts, textbooks, & general understanding

• books:

  • The Vertebrate Body (in six editions)

  • Osteology of the Reptiles

  • major reviews of labyrinthodonts & pelycosaurs

• provided the highest standards that we can hope to follow in the profession of vert. paleo.

Romer taxonomic patronyms

• Romeriida — a clade that contains the diapsids & their closest relatives

• Romeria — a genus of early captorhinids

• Romeriscus — a genus from early Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) initially described as the oldest known amniote

Romer’s Gap

1st to recognize the gap in the fossil record b/t tetrapods of the Devonian & later Carboniferous period

Romerogram

aka spindle/bubble diagram:

• represents taxonomic diversity (horizontal width) against geological time (vertical axis) in order to reflect the variation of abundance of various taxa through time

George Gaylord Simpson

Born: 1902

• Chicago, IL

• Joseph & Helen Simpson (2 older sisters)

• wife 1: Lydia Pedroja (divorced in 1938)

  • had 4 daughters

• wife 2: Anne Roe

Died: 1984

• Tuscon, AZ

Simpson education

• Denver HS

• B.A.: University of Colorado until senior year, then transferred to Yale (graduating in 1923)

• PhD: Yale University (1926)

Simpson positions

• Staff at American Museum of Natural History (1927)

• Captain & Major in U.S. Army during WW2 (Intelligence)

• Curator of Paleontology at American Museum of Natural History after WW2 (1945)

• Professor at Columbia University (1945)

• Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Harvard Museum of Comparative Anatomy (1958-59)

• Professor of Geosciences at University of Arizona (1968-1982)

Simpson societies

• 1st elected president of Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

• 1st president of Society for the Study of Evolution

• American Philosophical Society National Academy of Science

• American Academy of Arts & Sciences

• Foreign Member of Royal Society

Simpson awards

same as Romer:

• Mary Clark Thompson Medal

• Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (twice)

• Hayden Memorial Geological Award

• Penrose Medal

• Paleontological Society Medal

• Linnean Medal

• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement

different:

• Darwin-Wallace Medal

• Darwin Medal

• National Medal of Science

Simpson contributions

• major participant in the modern synthesis

  • Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944)

  • The Meaning of Evolution (1949)

  • The Major Features of Evolution (1953)

• expert on extinct mammals & their intercontinental migrations

  • Mesozoic/N&S America fossil mammals

• anticipated punctuated equilibrium concept & dispelled myth of linear horse evolution

• coined the word “hypodigm” in 1940 & published extensively on the taxonomy of fossil & extant mammals

• influentially & incorrectly opposed to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, but accepted the theory of plate tectonics (& continental drift)

  • when evidence became conclusive

Simpson contributions to paleontology

(hint: paleontology)

• monographed Marsh’s magnificent Mesozoic mammals from Como Bluff & elsewhere

  • produced a companion monograph of the British Mesozoic Mammalia

• illuminate the beginning of the age of mammals

• produced a massive replication replete w/ insightful footnotes & philosophical explanations

• vibrant style of writing on all kinds of subjects

Simpson books

• Quantitative Zoology (1944)

• Horses (1951)

• Penguins (1976)

true

Cuvier helped establish the field of comparative anatomy a lot.

false

Cuvier believed in the theory of evolution.

false

Mary Anning never had a formal education and was illiterate.

Name a major contribution that Mary Anning made to paleontology.

• associated w/…

  • 1st Ichthyosaur

  • 1st Plesiosaur

  • 1st Pterosaur outside of Germany

• pioneered study of coprolites

• inspired public interest in geology/paleontology

Blaire Van Valkenburgh

Born: 1952 (still alive!)

• Washington, D.C.

• raised in Alexandria, VA

• Mother: Lois Van Valkenburgh

Van Valkenburgh education

• T. C. Williams HS

• B.S.: from Stockton University!

• M.A., PhD, & postdoc: Johns Hopkins University

  • Vertebrate Paleontology

  • worked w/ Alan Walker

Van Valkenburgh positions

• Associate Dean of Academic Programs in the Life Sciences, UCLA (2011-present)

• Curator, Donald R. Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals, UCLA (1986-present)

• Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA (1995-present)

Van Valkenburgh societies

was President & VP of Society of Vertebrate Paleontology:

• Donald R. Dickey Chair in Vertebrate Biology (endowed professorship)

• Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar

• Elected Fellow of the Paleontological Society

• Honorary Fellow, California Academy of Sciences

• Predoctoral Fellow, American Association of University Women

• Gilman Fellowship, The Johns Hopkins University

Van Valkenburgh awards

Romer-Simpson Medal, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Van Valkenburgh research interests

• evolution of form, function, & ecology in organisms, both living/extinct

• focused on large predatory mammals

• explored the fossil record of carnivores from both ecological & evolutionary perspectives

Van Valkenburgh recent interests

1. parallels b/t past & present predator guilds

2. evolution of mammalian feeding adaptations

3. function & evolution of mammalian nasal turbinate bones

4. molecular & morphological evolution w/in the Carnivora

Van Valkenburgh contributions

• >110 publications in biology & paleontology of carnivorous mammals

• appearance on TV documentaries on prehistoric predators

• a leading expert on evolutionary biology of large carnivores (past & present)

• Curator of Donald R. Dickey Collection of Birds & Mammals at UCLA

• professor, mentor/advisor, colleague, to many past & present biologists/paleontologists

Van Valkenburgh publications

2018:

• Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities

• History of the cheetah-human relationship

• The cheetah: evolutionary history and paleoecology

true

It is legal to collect & sell fossils that are found on privately owned properly in the US, if they are NOT associated w/ Native American culture artifacts/burial sites.

parachute science

wealthy people/scientists (focused on Caucasian people from Europe & US):

• going to foreign places & assuming they know best

• native people couldn’t know as much

• led to not including native people w/ scientific endeavors, taking resources perhaps, & even skirting local laws and/or breaking them

false (Myanmar)

Dr. Lewis focused on the Dominican Republic when she discussed “blood amber”

Germany

Which country did Dr. Lewis say has had some issues w/ taking & keeping fossils from other places & having them in personal collections?

Why do countries like Ethiopia & Kenya seem to value fossils more than countries like the US & consider them part of their national heritage?

• really feel the fossils/know them

• they’ve been a part of their past/history for a long time

  • may be more well versed in paleontology & evolution as well