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Spotlight: , Biogeology, and the Colleague across the Hall Author(s): David Goodwin Source: PALAIOS , Feb., 2006, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 1-2 Published by: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20172963

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This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:35:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 21, NO. 1 FEBRUARY, 2006

An International Journal ofSEPM SPOTLIGHT (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Editor CHRISTOPHER G. MAPLES DOI 10.2110/palo.2006.S01 Desert Research Institute Managing Editor SARA A. MARCUS Geobiology, Biogeology, and the Colleague Desert Research Institute 2215 Raggio Parkway Across the Hall Reno, NV 89512 USA [email protected] The following essay is a result of two recent conversations: one at 32,000 feet, the Associate Editors other on the phone from my office. Each by itself was unremarkable. When taken to LOREN E. BABCOCK gether, however, they hint at a potentially troubling issue facing today. The Ohio State University JULIE BARTLEY The first occurred several months ago somewhere over Nebraska. I was returning State University of West Georgia home from a conference when I struck up a conversation with the passenger next to TIMOTHY J. BRALOWER me. Upon learning I was a paleontologist, he was full of questions?excellent ques Pennsylvania State University DEREK E. G. BRIGGS tions. He first asked about dinosaurs, to which I explained that I study clams (he hid Yale University it well, but I could sense his disappointment). For nearly half an hour, we discussed KATHLEEN A. CAMPBELL the finer points of bivalve shell growth. Later in the flight, he surprised me by asking University of Auckland about the Burgess Shale and why the animals were so strange. I was impressed: he DAVID A. EBERTH knew a good deal about paleontology and asked fundamental questions (I knew Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology nothing about his occupation?financial planning?and I still don't, much to my HOWARD R. FELDMAN wife's chagrin). ExxonMobil Upstream Research The second conversation was more recent. I contacted a former graduate school Center ANTHONY R. FIORILLO classmate, now a postdoctoral researcher in at a major research uni Dallas Museum of Natural History versity. After explaining that I intended to write about paleontology's place within KARL FLESSA the geosciences, I asked him what he thought the major research question was in pa University of Arizona BRUCE W. FOUKE leontology. "I really have no idea. Evolution, I guess?" I was amazed; he had no idea University of Illinois what our discipline even did. I thought, now this is a problem. EVAN K. FRANSEEN Here's the troubling issue. Does the lay public have a better idea of the questions pa Kansas Geological Survey leontology is addressing than do our geological colleagues? I realize this question is ROBERT A. GASTALDO Colby College based solely on anecdotes. The guy on the airplane could have been a ringer, but he is MURRAY K. GINGRAS not my main concern. In fact, I am delighted that he knew as much as he did; we are University of New Brunswick doing a good job getting the word to the public, and but for a few exceptions (Cobb EBERHARD GISCHLER County, Georgia and the Kansas Board of Education, among others), they want to Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat hear it. The disturbing issue is that the proverbial colleague across the hall does not ETHAN L. GROSSMAN know what we do, or, potentially more troubling, does not think it is important. Texas A & M University I suspect that most of our geoscientist colleagues are indeed interested in what we STEPHEN T. HASIOTIS do, the questions we ask, and the techniques we employ?be they in the library, lab University of Kansas STEVEN M. HOLLAND oratory, or out in the field. My sense, however, is that they do not think our current University of Georgia research can be applied to, or combined with, their research programs. This was not PATRICIA H. KELLEY always the case. Where would our understanding of the geology of the Great Basin University of North Carolina Wilmington be without graptolites, of the Cordillera without conodonts and ammonites, or of the MICHAL KOWALEWSKI northern Appalachians without brachiopods? Still don't believe me? Ask a structural Virginia Polytechnic Institute working the Sierra Nevada. Without a good biostratigrapher, they cannot EVELYN KRULL CSIRO Land & Water JASON A. LILLEGRAVEN University of Wyoming David Goodwin grew up in northern Ver M. GABRIELA M?NGANO mont, where he spent his youth hiking and University of Saskatchewan skiing in the Green Mountains. When he ARNOLD I. MILLER _^ learned that students received a seasons' The University of Cincinnati THOMAS D. OLSZEWSKI -* **'" _._ . '"*' fiSfefeb* pass to the local ski area with their tuition, Texas A & M University _ he enrolled at Lyndon State College in Ver KARLA PARSONS-HUBBARD ' - -~"*- *"em?^r monts Northeast Kingdom. After receiving a Oberlin College RAY ROGERS ^ ^3*?? ^ ^ * *-- j^??-_ -- BS iR 1994, he moved to the Rockies topur r:;T*~~ J J-^^^*""*- """?J^HL*. ^"^1 r^ sue a career os a ski bum. While not on the Macalester College CHARLES E. SAVRDA 2?C _. '. '^. ^_ ?j^yH^S' '""^""r slopes, he studied the and pa Auburn University . i-^n^^-^^''^si^^.tfm^^W^ ^MJ?j0t leontology of accreted terranes in Nevada SALLY E. WALKER ^'^^SK^?l^aS^tE^^?^^^M^^^^^^ an(^ S?nora> Mexico. Following the comple University of Georgia ^^"-^?^^^HHESvl tion of his M.S. from the University of Mon PETER WILF ?^ j^^^^^^^HPlf tana (1998), he moved to Tucson to attend the Pennsylvania State University RACHEL WOOD --.. ^^V^^^^^Hm^^^ University of Arizona. There, David studied Schlumberger Cambridge Research ^^^?jE?&^^^l2eE^^^^^^^^^^^ sclerochronology, isotope geochemistry, and j^^Hfi^^^^^^^^^^H Wildcat basketball. After his Ph.D. (2003) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^-^ and a short postdoc at Louisiana State Uni ^^^^^^^^^^^^^j|? he landed at Denison University, h sepmI ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H|E| where he an professor. No down ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hjju| hill skiing, no Division basketball, lots ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M of flat-water kayaking. Davids research fo ^^S Socjpfy f0f I ^edimentary Geo\o%yJ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^HH cuses on paleoecology, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^m tigraphy. stra~

This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:35:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms tell whether they are looking at Permian or Cambrian strata. unavailable data to scientists and policy makers working to The importance of biostratigraphy cannot be overstated. develop future water-management policies in the desert Nevertheless, in many cases, we have gone from being es southwest. Finally, where would our understanding of sential collaborators, to departmental colleagues study Earth's climate be without the fossil record? For example, Za ing. .. what was it, something about evolution. What hap chos et al. (1994) analyzed oxygen isotope values from plank pened? In the last thirty years, our discipline has morphed tic and benthic foraminifera to reconstruct surface and verti into a form of (i.e., the paleobiology movement). We cal marine temperature gradients during the Paleogene. have changed, to a large degree, from what we would now call Without these data, little would be known about the ocean's geobiologists into biogeologists. Much of our research focus thermal structure during this critical interval in Earth's cli has shifted from using fossils to address essentially geological matic history. questions (herein referred to as geobiology), to using the fos These examples highlight the value of geobiologic research, silized remains of plants, animals, and microbes to investi and illustrate how our research is relevant and valuable to gate ancient biological phenomena (biogeology). our colleagues. Furthermore, geobiologic research not only Before I go any farther, a caveat is required. This change is serves the larger geologic community, but serves our disci not a bad thing, and I do not think that the questions we have pline as well. The more we integrate geological processes into been addressing?what is the basic pattern of biological di our research the better we will become at interpreting the fos versification of life on Earth, and what are the factors that sil record (e.g., Holland, 1995; Holland and Patzkowsky, control and modify this process?are unimportant. In fact, it 1999). is just the opposite. Without a detailed knowledge of process So where do we go from here? Well, first of all, go across the and pattern, we cannot reliably use the fossil record to test hall. Ask the what she is working on. See if any hypothesis, geological or biological. To dispel any sense there is a creative way to apply the fossil record to her prob that I am lecturing, my most recent research on heterochrony lem. This approach may not be for everyone, nor should it can be characterized best as biogeology. I am part of this be?our diversity is our strength. However, for those who can trend?an insider looking out, not visa versa. Biogeology is a focus their research on geologic issues, opportunities exist. valuable science worthy of its place in the academy. Recently, Science (July 1, 2005; v. 309; no. 5731) published a Caveats notwithstanding, how can we remind our col list of 125 fundamental questions that need to be answered. leagues across the hall that paleontological research is rele More than ten percent of these questions can be addressed us vant to them? I think we need to integrate our research better ing the fossil record. To be sure, many remain squarely bio into the larger context of the geosciences. Snyder (2004) geological. However, our colleagues across the hall are active stressed the importance of this approach. Fossils?and the ly addressing several of these questions. We should collabo rate with them. Brainstorm with them. Go in the field with stories they tell?are inseparably linked to the sedimentary basins in which they are preserved. Sedimentary basins, in them. Write proposals with them (remember, in many cases turn, form and are modified by plate motions and interac they have access to funding that we don't!). Let's take this op tions. is a function of processes operating in portunity to remind our departmental colleagues that what we do is relevant to them, and remind ourselves that what the mantle, which are still poorly understood. Working with they do is relevant to us. our non-paleontologist colleagues, we can and should apply ?DAVID GOODWIN our knowledge of the fossil record to understand better the ba sic processes operating on and within Earth. REFERENCES To our credit, there is a long history of geobiological re search. The application of the Glossopteris flora to infer con Belasky, P., and Runnegak, B., 1993, Biogeographic constraint for tinental drift is perhaps the most famous example. And the tectonic reconstructions of the Pacifie region: Geology, v. 21, p. 979-982. literature is full of exciting and creative uses of the fossil re Belasky, P., and Runnegar, B., 1994, Permian longitudes of Wran cord. Wells (1963) and Berry and Barker (1968) combined de gellia, Stikinia, and Eastern Klamath terranes based on coral bio tailed analysis of growth increments from corals and bivalved geography: Geology, v. 22, p. 1095-1098. mollusks, respectively, to confirm astronomical predictions Berry, W.B.N., and Barker, R.M., 1968, Fossil bivalve shells indi that the length of a day has been increasing through Earth cate longer month and year in Cretaceous than present: , v. history. 217, p. 938-939. Examples of pal?ontologie research applied to broad geolog Dettman, D.L., Flessa, K.W., Roopnarine, P.D., Sch?ne, B.R., and ical problems are not limited to textbooks. Goodwin, D.H., 2004, The use of oxygen isotope variation in shells of estuarine mollusks as a quantitative record of seasonal and an There are many less well-known, but equally insightful, ex nual Colorado River discharge: Geochimica et Cosmochimica amples in the literature. In many cases, the conclusions of pa Acta, v. 68, p. 1253-1263. leontologically based research could not be reached using dif Holland, S.M., 1995, The stratigraphie distribution of fossils: Paleo ferent approaches. For example, establishing the paleolongi biology, v. 21, p. 92-109. tude of Cordilleran allochthonous terranes is notoriously dif Holland, S.M., and Patzkowsky, M.E., 1999, Models for simulating ficult. Belasky and Runnegar (1993; 1994), however, the fossil record: Geology, v. 27, p. 491-494. illustrate how modern and ancient coral diversity gradients Snyder, W.S., 2004, Sedimentary geology and paleontology re search?a perspective: PALAIOS, v. 19, p. 191-192. can be used to constrain the position of several such terranes Wells, J.W., 1963, Coral growth and geochronometry: Nature, v. 197, during Permian time. In another example, Dettman et al. p. 948-950. (2004) outlined a method that provides quantitative esti Zachos, J.C., Stott, L.D., and Lohmann, K.C., 1994, Evolution of mates of seasonal and annual prehistoric Colorado River early Cenozoic marine temperatures: Paleoceanography, v. 9, p. flow. This study is significant because it provides heretofore 353-387.

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