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ETE Program Description |
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The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program (ETE) at the National Museum of Natural History investigates Earth's land biotas throughout their 400 million year history. Our goal is to understand how terrestrial ecosystems have been structured and how they change over geologic time. Using the fossil record, ETE scientists study the characteristics of ecological communities and the changing dynamics of ecosystems. Paleoecological analyses determine patterns through time in community structure and composition, investigate the effects of ecological change on individual lineages, and relate patterns of stasis or change to environmental and other processes that influence ecosystem formation, sustainability, and collapse. ETE research reflects a conviction that we must study the geological past to understand how ecosystems function and how they react to major environmental crises. There appears to be no precedent for such crises in the recent past, but in the immense span of Earth history there are abundant examples of environmental change and its biotic effects. Our aim is to provide historical perspective on present-day biodiversity, and we believe that this perspective is essential to understanding processes that generate and control biodiversity. Facilities and PersonnelETE is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary program developed by scientists at the NMNH and funded through the Smithsonian Institution. ETE has published over 70 research papers, the 1992 volume Terrestrial Ecosystems through Time (University of Chicago Press), and the ETE Database Manual (1993, 1997), which provide a foundation for the study of evolutionary paleoecology. We are building databases on ancient environments and ecological characteristics of fossil plants and animals as tools for exploring how ecosystems change. Extensive fossil collections at the Museum as well as ETE-sponsored conferences, workshops, fellowships, and internships also contribute to the vitality of the program. We collaborate with the NOW (Neogene Oldworld Mammals) Database at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The ETE book, Terrestrial Ecosystems through Time, can be ordered from the University of Chicago Press.
ETE Members:Anna K. Behrensmeyer Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Paleoecology and taphonomy; Miocene-Pleistocene faunas of Africa and southern Asia
William A. DiMichele Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Paleoecology and systematics of late Paleozoic plants
Mikael Fortelius Department of Geology Coordinator, NOW Database P.O. Box 11, 00014 University of HelsinkiHelsinki, Finland Paleoecology and systematics of Cenozoic mammals of Europe and Asia
Conrad Labandeira Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Evolutionary paleoecology of insects and their interactions with plants
Richard Potts Department of Anthropology National Museum of Natural History Plio-Pleistocene hominid paleoecology and behavior
Scott L. Wing Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Evolutionary paleoecology of Cretaceous and Tertiary floras
For additional information, contact: Anna K. Behrensmeyer Co-Director ETE Program Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History PO Box 37012 NHB MRC 121 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012 U.S.A. Phone: (202)-357-3033 Fax: (202)-786-2832 (Email:behrensmeyer.kay@nmnh.si.edu) Website: (http://etedata.si.edu/) |