I encountered the word "taphonomy" for the first time today. Basing a conjecture on its Greek roots, I thought it might refer to the law and customs pertaining to graves and burials.
My guess was wrong:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taphonomy
I don't mean any disrespect to paleontologists here when I say I wish my guess had been right. I suppose it's a consequence of my being less interested in the natural sciences than the social sciences and humanities.
Also, I forgot to mention this great Common Descent episode about decomposers:
https://commondescentpodcast.com/2025/03/15/episode-213-decomposers/
🚨R package StratPal update🚨
Full integration with the FossilSim package to study effects of #taphonomy and #ecology on #phylogenetic trees with sampled ancestors, and simplified handling of categorical niche models 😁
#stratigraphy
https://mindthegap-erc.github.io/StratPal/index.html
🚨New Publication🚨
Seamlessly integrate #stratigraphy, #taphonomy, #ecology and evolutionary biology to build your modeling pipelines for stratigraphic #paleobiology
Published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution , R package available on CRAN
@Emiliagnathus
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.14507
Fetid Fish Revise Understanding of #Fossil Formation
This study's findings raises important questions regarding just how "primitive" the early ancestors of vertebrates were 500 million years ago
by @grrlscientist via #Substack
#Fish #taphonomy #SciComm https://grrlscientist.substack.com/p/fetid-fish-revise-understanding-of
Fetid Fish Revise Understanding of #Fossil Formation
This study's findings raises important questions regarding just how "primitive" the early ancestors of vertebrates were 500 million years ago
by @GrrlScientist via #Substack
#Fish #taphonomy #SciComm https://grrlscientist.substack.com/p/fetid-fish-revise-understanding-of
🦴 Cave environments affect bone at the Galería site (Spain) over 300ka. Lowest levels <3% survival - heavy rainfall 🌧️ ➡️ acid soils leach away bone. As climate dries, preservation improves ML 🤖 89% classification Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #archaeology #taphonomy #geochemistry
New #research #software is now available for download at CRAN 😁
Check it out if you want to combine ecology, #taphonomy, #stratigrapgy, and #evolutionarybiology to build your own modeling pipelines for stratigraphic #paleobiology
Very proud of this small package, which will form the basis of our upcoming workshop in Warsaw
@Emiliagnathus @djbirddanerd
🦴🩻🔬🧪 50 years of scanning electron #microscopy of #bone—a comprehensive overview of the important discoveries made and insights gained into bone material properties in #health, #disease, and #taphonomy
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41413-019-0053-z
#imaging #microscopy #biomaterials #osteocyte #biomineralization #science #biology #osteology #materialsscience #materials
Stepped on something on my way home and it went "crunch" and spalled into a bunch of pieces. Looked down to see what it was, and from the intact portion I could tell that it was a sandwich someone dropped on the sidewalk. #yegweather #taphonomy
#NewPaper #Paleontology #Taphonomy
Slater, T.S., Edwards, N.P., Webb, S.M. et al. Preservation of corneous β-proteins in Mesozoic feathers. Nat Ecol Evol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02177-8
#NewPaper #Paleontology #Taphonomy
Losso, S.R., Thines, J.E. & Ortega-Hernández, J. Taphonomy of non-biomineralized trilobite tissues preserved as calcite casts from the Ordovician Walcott-Rust Quarry, USA. Commun Earth Environ 4, 330 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00981-5
#NewPaper #Paleontology #Pterosaurs #Taphonomy
Roy E. Smith, David M. Martill, Nick Longrich, David M. Unwin, Nizar Ibrahim & Samir Zouhri (2023)
Comparative taphonomy of Kem Kem Group (Cretaceous) pterosaurs of southeast Morocco
Evolving Earth 100006
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100006
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000067
#NewPaper #Paleontology #MarineReptiles #Taphonomy
De La Garza, R.G., Sjövall, P., Hauff, R. and Lindgren, J. (2023), Preservational modes of some ichthyosaur soft tissues (Reptilia, Ichthyopterygia) from the Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Germany. Palaeontology, 66: e12668. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12668
Perfectly preserved #turtle fossil gives clues to habitat 150 million years ago
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-turtle-fossil-clues-habitat-million.html
A new specimen of #Solnhofia parsonsi from the Upper #Jurassic Plattenkalk deposits of Painten and comments on the relationship between limb #taphonomy and habitat #ecology in #fossil #turtles https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287936
"About 150 million years ago, a shallow, tropical sea stretched across southern #Germany; it contained many islands and reefs that separated basins from the open sea."
Happy #FieldFriday from the Lower Pleistocene #paleontological site Tsiotra Vryssi (TSR, northern Greece) with the joint University of Tübingen-University of Thessaloniki team! 🤠
🔗 Read about TSR in the #OpenAccess paper by Konidaris et al. (2021)
https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010001
Here are some of this year’s finds from TSR! ⚒️ Articulated specimens and carnivore modified bones are common in the assemblage.
🔗Read about the #taphonomy of TSR in the paper by Katsagoni et al. (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2022.2140424
I'd like to highlight a niche paper by Hans Pellmann (2021) that documents branchiopod crustacean aktuo-paläontologie--documenting what happens in the modern world BEFORE fossilization. First, a dried out community of the clam shrimp Limnadia lenticularis (photo b J. Venzlaff). #arthropoda #crustacea #branchiopoda #spinicaudata #conchostraca #taphonomy #fossilization
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#NewPaper #Paleontology #Taphonomy #DataManagement
JULIA B. MCHUGH, STEPHANIE K. DRUMHELLER, MIRIAM KANE, ANJA RIEDEL, JENNIFER H. NESTLER; ASSESSING PALEOECOLOGICAL DATA RETENTION AMONG DISPARATE FIELD COLLECTION REGIMES: A CASE STUDY AT THE MYGATT-MOORE QUARRY (MORRISON FORMATION). PALAIOS 2023;; 38 (5): 233–239. doi: https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2022.048
