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I will develop a new framework for the study of the evolution of behavior as represented by trace fossils (ichnofossils), which are the preserved remains of the activities of organisms, such as tracks and burrows. As the only direct record of the behavior of ancient organisms, they are potentially key to studying the evolution of behavior over geologic time scales. Unfortunately, this usage has been hampered by the lack of integration of trace fossil research (ichnology) with the far larger body of research on the ecology and evolution of behavior. For example, the prevailing ethological classification of trace fossils has no counterparts in the behavioral literature of biologists studying extant organisms.
Nathan et al. (2008, PNAS) have called for a new movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research. The adoption of this paradigm within ichnology would help place these studies in a far wider common context for the study of movement, while adding the dimension of deep time to research on the evolution of movement. This has direct implications for our understanding of major events in the evolution of sensory, nervous, and locomotive systems, such as during the Cambrian radiation of animals.
Movement paleoecology, trace fossils, and the evolution of behavior
| PI(s): | Roy Plotnick (University of Illinois) |
| Start Date: | 16-Jan-2010 |
| End Date: | 17-Apr-2010 |
| Keywords: | |
I will develop a new framework for the study of the evolution of behavior as represented by trace fossils (ichnofossils), which are the preserved remains of the activities of organisms, such as tracks and burrows. As the only direct record of the behavior of ancient organisms, they are potentially key to studying the evolution of behavior over geologic time scales. Unfortunately, this usage has been hampered by the lack of integration of trace fossil research (ichnology) with the far larger body of research on the ecology and evolution of behavior. For example, the prevailing ethological classification of trace fossils has no counterparts in the behavioral literature of biologists studying extant organisms.Nathan et al. (2008, PNAS) have called for a new movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research. The adoption of this paradigm within ichnology would help place these studies in a far wider common context for the study of movement, while adding the dimension of deep time to research on the evolution of movement. This has direct implications for our understanding of major events in the evolution of sensory, nervous, and locomotive systems, such as during the Cambrian radiation of animals.
Related products
Publications- Behavioral biology of trace fossils Plotnick, R. E. 2012. Behavioral biology of trace fossils. Paleobiology 38(3):459-473.
- Evidence of multiple late Bashkirian to early Moscovian (Pennsylvanian) fire events preserved in contemporaneous cave fills Scott, A.C. F. Kenig, R.E. Plotnick, I.J. Glasspool, W.G. Chaloner, and C.F. Eble (2010). Evidence of multiple late Bashkirian to early Moscovian (Pennsylvanian) fire events preserved in contemporaneous cave fills. Palaeogeography, 291(1-2): 72-84.
