Team Publications

Publications by the members of the Paleosynthesis Team and Scientific Advisory Board

127 to 132 of 504

02NOV 2023
Team Publications
The dinosaur boom in the Cretaceous
“Dinosaurs were thriving at the beginning of the Cretaceous, and yet major changes had occurred across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. The sauropods were replaced by ornithopods as dominant herbivores, which has been explained by many ecological scenarios, including the replacement of gymnosperms by angiosperms as dominant land plants. The ornithischians went on to radiate substantially in […]“Dinosaurs were thriving at the beginning of the Cretaceous, and yet major changes had occurred across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. The sauropods were replaced by ornithopods as dominant herbivores, which has been explained by many ecological scenarios, including the replacement of gymnosperms by angiosperms as dominant land plants. The ornithischians went on to radiate substantially in […]
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23OCT 2023
Team Publications
Crustacean microcoprolites from the Middle Triassic Luoping Biota
“Modern-type marine ecosystems became established in the Triassic following the devastation of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Attention has been focused on higher levels of these food chains, but the primary levels have not been established in detail. Here, we present evidence of microcoprolites from the Luoping biota (early Anisian, Middle Triassic) that lophogastrid shrimps were […]
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17OCT 2023
Team Publications
Finding the world’s oldest mammals
“Mammals (or properly, mammaliaforms) originated in the Late Triassic and the first 50 Myr of their evolution through Late Triassic and Early Jurassic are best documented by rich faunas from numerous localities around Bristol in south-west England and in South Wales. The mode of preservation of the fossils, in sediment washed into karst features such […]
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17OCT 2023
Team Publications
Corallite sizes of reef corals
“Corallite sizes reflect a continuum in the efficacy of photosymbiosis in colonial reef corals, with smaller corallite sizes generally associated with higher autotrophy. Using a large compilation of reef-coral traits and corallite diameters as a proxy, we test here the hypothesis that photosymbiotic efficacy has increased over the evolutionary history of scleractinian corals. To gain […]
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04OCT 2023
Team Publications
Estimating spatial variation in origination and extinction in deep time
“Understanding spatial variation in origination and extinction can help to unravel the mechanisms underlying macroevolutionary patterns. Although methods have been developed for estimating global origination and extinction rates from the fossil record, no framework exists for applying these methods to restricted spatial regions. Here, we test the efficacy of three metrics for regional analysis, using […]“Understanding spatial variation in origination and extinction can help to unravel the mechanisms underlying macroevolutionary patterns. Although methods have been developed for estimating global origination and extinction rates from the fossil record, no framework exists for applying these methods to restricted spatial regions. Here, we test the efficacy of three metrics for regional analysis, using […]
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04OCT 2023
Team Publications
‘Arm brains’ (axial nerves) of Jurassic coleoids
“Although patchy, the fossil record of coleoids bears a wealth of information on their soft part anatomy. Here, we describe remains of the axial nerve cord from both decabrachian (Acanthoteuthis, Belemnotheutis, Chondroteuthis) and octobrachian (Plesioteuthis, Proteroctopus, Vampyronassa) coleoids from the Jurassic. We discuss some hypotheses reflecting on possible evolutionary drivers behind the neuroanatomical differentiation of […]“Although patchy, the fossil record of coleoids bears a wealth of information on their soft part anatomy. Here, we describe remains of the axial nerve cord from both decabrachian (Acanthoteuthis, Belemnotheutis, Chondroteuthis) and octobrachian (Plesioteuthis, Proteroctopus, Vampyronassa) coleoids from the Jurassic. We discuss some hypotheses reflecting on possible evolutionary drivers behind the neuroanatomical differentiation of […]
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