CORE CONCEPTS Paleobiology Danielle Venton Early Triassic that few plants or animals Writer survived. Those animals left were primarily stunted (3). Paleobiology also lends weight to the importance of habitat preservation, Childhood field trips to natural history mu- liantly colored. Computerized locomotion especially along migration corridors. The seums were, for many of us, our first brush models indicate how ancient animals may seasonal migration routes traveled by herds with the field of paleobiology. Paleobiologists have walked. Isotopic analysis of ancient of pronghorn antelope in western Wyoming still use many of the tools and methods we human hair indicates whether the owner had have been used for 5,000 to 6,000 years. associate with the study of ancient animals: a more uniform or varied diet. Those routes must be saved if the species is exploration, digging, collecting, and Beyond incorporating new analytical to be (2). Beyond informing policy, some re- microscope work. In recent years, however, methods, paleobiology has moved into the searchers advocate paleobiology training for the field has become less of a collecting and applied , gaining a voice in conser- wildlife managers themselves, helping them describing science and moved increasingly vation biology. Because the climate has os- answer forensic questions, such as: Are these into the analytical, data-driven realm. cillated in the past, for example, preserved the remains of a poached animal? (2). Spectroscopy, DNA sequencing, X-ray records of species distributions, assemblages, A few biologists, however, question the computed tomography scans, and computer individual size, and other measurements can field’s usefulness for conservation. The an- models of movement are bringing new hint at what the future holds and how we cient record is spotty. Sampling is a product insight into ancient organisms, including can manage for preservation and of luck as much as anything. Not all organ- animal behavior, diet, and (1). biodiversity (2). isms are equally preserved and soft-bodied Scanning electron microscopes, for example, Recent work studying tropical sug- animals are hardly preserved at all. The indicate some feathered were bril- gests conditions became so hot during the links between past environmental and bio- logical changes can be complex, nonlinear, or seemingly absent. “Even a decade ago, the prevailing wisdom aboutfossilaccumulationswasthatthey were hopelessly biased,” writes Julien Louys, “to the extent that it would be difficult to ever meaningfully compare fossil communi- ties to modern ones. That has luckily proved not to be the case” (4). Instead, Louys argues, important mea- surements, such as species composition, trophic structure, abundance, and even ge- netic diversity, to an extent, can be traced through time, informing and guiding con- servationists as they seek to protect modern ecosystems.

1 Lyman RL (2012) Biodiversity, , and conservation biology. in and Conservation, ed Louys J (Springer, Berlin), pp 147–169. 2 Lyman RL (2006) Paleozoology in the service of conservation biology. Evol Anthropol 15:11–19. 3 Sun Y, et al. (2012) Lethally hot temperatures during the Early – Paleobiology reveals that antelope have been using particular migration routes in Wyoming Triassic greenhouse. Science 338(6105):366 370. 4 Louys J, ed (2012) Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation for thousands of years. ©iStockphoto.com/angeal. (Springer, Berlin).

10052 | PNAS | June 18, 2013 | vol. 110 | no. 25 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1309624110 Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021