New study affirms reliability of fossil record

[benburch]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/uoc-nsa021005.php

Contact: Steve Koppes
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773-702-8366
University of Chicago

New study affirms reliability of fossil record

The fossil record may not be perfect, but it passed a critical test with flying colors, according to a study by University of Chicago paleontologist Susan M. Kidwell that will be published in the Feb. 11 issue of the journal Science.

While fossils of the glamorous dinosaurs get most of the attention, they are too few and far between to answer the most important questions about the evolution of life on Earth. So for decades, paleontologists have turned to humble shelled creatures like sea urchins or mollusks, whose enormous numbers and geographic range make their fossils a much better marker of the history of life. But paleontologists also have worried that some of those fossils decayed much faster than others, so that the remains collected today might misrepresent the true proportions of past life, thereby throwing off their conclusions.

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"The fossil record isn't complete--the vast majority of individual bivalve shells are undoubtedly recycled back into calcium, carbon and oxygen. But even though there's a lot of potential for that recycling to shortchange the completeness of the record of some bivalve groups relative to others, there's no evidence that long-term patterns are actually biased. The fossil record appears to be capturing this important aspect of the biological story." And because the bivalves cover such a wide range of shell types, these results suggest that shelly mainstays of the fossil record, such as snails, sea urchins and corals, may have comparably unbiased records, Kidwell said.

[car54whereareyou]

1. Thanks for posting this

very interesting information, benburch. It's good to see links to news on scientific developments here.

[Ediacara]

2. I LOVE taphonomy!

And so should you :-)