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Future Research Directions in PALEONTOLOGY To contact The Paleontological Society To contact the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology http://www.paleosoc.org http://www.vertpaleo.org Future Research Directions in PALEONTOLOGY Report of a Workshop Held April 8-9, 2006 Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Hosted by the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Organized by the Paleontological Society In Cooperation With the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 1 Executive Summary 3 Future Research Directions in Paleontology (FRDP) 5 Section 1 A Proposal for Deep Time Earth Life Observatories (DETELOs) 9 Section 2 A Proposal for Paleontological Probes (PALPROBEs) to Determine the Effects of Human-Induced Environmental Change 13 Section 3 Database and Museum Collection Development and Integration 16 Section 4 Development of the Role of Professional Paleontological Societies to Promote Paleontology and Paleontological Research 20 Section 5 Increase in Federal Research Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars 23 Conclusions 24 Contributors Executive Summary Five initiatives are proposed that will allow paleontologists to fully take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities which currently exist for paleontological research. These include proposals for the development of two new paleontological research programs, as well as initiatives aimed at improving the support and management of paleoinformatics and museum resources, increasing involvement of professional societies in the promo- tion of paleontology to other scientists and the public, and provision of necessary opportunities for the next generation of paleontologists. Deep Time Earth Life Observatories (DETELOs) coordinated field work and analyses. DETELOs Studies of deep time provide a unique perspective would provide significant opportunities for junior on the processes driving the Earth-Life system that faculty and postdoctoral scholars and include joint cannot be studied in the present or in recent history. training of graduate students. Typically research on deep time has proceeded within Given the variety of problems of sufficient scope to the framework of the single investigator. Deep Time require such attention, we suggest that allocation of Earth Life Observatories are proposed as a program $4 million per year (2007 dollars) by the National that would allow focused efforts by teams of scientists Science Foundation (NSF) would be sufficient to fund to increase the pace towards solution of highly signifi- three such observatories at approximately $1 million cant problems within a systems framework. per year with an additional $1 million per year devoted These DETELOs would involve integrated teams to supporting the associated infrastructure costs. of perhaps 10-20 paleontologists, geochemists, stratigraphers, geochronologists, paleoclimatologists, Paleontological Probes (PALPROBEs) modelers and other geoscientists focusing on ques- Anthropogenic influences are adversely affecting tions of sufficient interest as to justify such an effort. biodiversity and ecosystems in ways that might be Each observatory would last for 5-10 years (an initial irreversible. Present-day environmental and biologi- 5 year grant followed by a possible renewal). Projects cal monitoring of these systems is insufficient for would need to integrate existing data sets, develop understanding anthropogenic effects because they quantitative, process-based models, as well as plan Future Research Directions in Paleontology lack a critical, deep-time perspective. A program of Increasing the Role of Professional Paleontological Probes (PALPROBEs) is proposed to Paleontological Societies generate studies that will provide unique information The professional societies have a major role to play on species response to rapidly changing environmen- in fostering and sustaining future research directions tal conditions. PALPROBE grants would be smaller in paleontology, including the growth of new com- than those for DETELOs, involving several PIs, but munity-wide research programs. It is generally agreed would be larger than the typical NSF individual that the societies would benefit from more frequent investigator grants. As for DETELOs, PALPROBE interactions and improved coordination. Benefits grants would emphasize providing support for junior could include establishment of circumstances to faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and training of grad- foster innovative research, development of a more uate students. unified vision of research goals and opportunities, For the PALPROBE program to obtain a sufficient and creation of opportunities to educate the public start we envision this would entail $1 million per on subjects of general relevance. year for 5 years which would fund 5 projects run- ning in any given year. Thus grants for the PAL- Increased Funding Opportunities for Graduate PROBE program would be significantly smaller than Students and Postdoctoral Scholars those envisioned for DETELOs. Intellectual interest in paleobiology is growing among a range of disciplines. However there is a lack Database and Museum Collection Development of funds for graduate student research as well as and Integration postdoctoral positions available for paleobiologists. Paleoinformatics is proving to be of increasing Several solutions are apparent. These include adjust- importance to both biology and to geology. ing funding allocations within NSF so as to allow Increasingly, research couples both databases and routine funding of postdoctoral positions through collections in order to answer broad evolutionary paleobiology grants, as well as reconstitution of NSF and/or deep time questions. Databases and museums Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) funded postdoc- undergird integrative multiuser research initiatives as toral positions for paleobiology. To improve funding well as individual projects. Being able to combine for graduate students it is recommended that NSF different datasets provides opportunities to ask new EAR establish a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement and more widely ranging questions in deep time Grant program. Special attention for inclusion of studies. Development and integration of museum funds for graduate student training and postdoctoral collections and comprehensive databases such as the support should also be a high priority in the Paleobiological Database (PBDB) and CHRONOS DETELO and PALPROBE programs. requires long-term support and stability from funding agencies. Page 2 | Future Research Directions in Paleontology Future Research Directions in Paleontology (FRDP) Never before has the study of past life been as coherent and prioritized set of scientific goals that exciting and as urgent. Technical advances present will guide its research activities over the next decade. unprecedented opportunities for dissecting causal These research goals will establish the context for relationships between patterns of organic and specific projects that will be devoted to reaching environmental change chronicled in the sedimentary them and will define what resources will be required record of deep time. Elevated rates of global change to accomplish them. give such studies pressing societal significance. New These goals will need to be addressed not just by understanding of the relationships between genetics paleontologists, but by teams of scientists represent- and organismal form offer a wider perspective on the ing a broad variety of expertise. This contrasts with evolutionary history of life, with paleobiology serv- the traditional academic approach of the science, ing as an empirical arbitrator in debates that span a which emphasized the role of individual investigators vast array of biological disciplines. For example, the in pursuit of their own research agendas. use of fossils has become a critical part of calibrating the molecular clock and establishing the divergence As a major step towards developing these goals, the times of lineages. Paleontological Society (PS), in conjunction with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), has At the same time, funding levels to support launched a community based effort on Future paleontological research have proven increasingly Research Directions in Paleontology (FRDP). This inadequate, both for the development of new and effort has focused on: promising research directions and for the growth and maintenance of critical intellectual and physi- > Recognizing large-scale collaborative projects cal infrastructure. Paleobiological research current- that will attract substantial new funding. ly receives about $3 million per year through > Emphasizing the crucial insights that paleonto- NSF’s EAR budget. This accounts for approxi- logical research can return to society in efforts to mately 2.5 % of the EAR budget and 0.5% of understand and manage environmental change NSF’s overall Geosciences budget. Thus we have caused by anthropogenic influence. reached a critical juncture: although the intellectu- al prospects of paleobiology have never been > Developing mechanisms to enhance paleonto- brighter, funding opportunities are lagging well logical infrastructure, particularly in the form of behind needs. additional support for museum collections and databases. Consequently, it has become increasingly clear that the paleontological community needs to articulate a > Improving funding for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Page 3 | Future Research Directions in Paleontology > Increasing the role of professional societies
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