Smithsonian
Institution
National Museum of Natural History
Research
Training Program
Department
of Paleobiology
About
the Department of PALEOBIOLOGY -
The
mission of the Department of Paleobiology is discovery,
description, and interpretation of the past history
of life on earth and its context within the surrounding
environment. Research efforts of the department
are driven by important evolutionary and ecological
questions that require the charting of the patterns
and processes of past life. These endeavors are
accomplished by active field work, examination of
collections, archiving of resulting data, publication
of research results, and sponsoring a variety of
education and outreach activities.
Research:
The Department of Paleobiology is a center for interdisciplinary
research on the history of the earth and its biota,
and their interactions through time. Research programs
in paleontology encompass the systematics of specific
animal and plant groups and their associations,
the evolutionary processes underlying phylogenetic
patterns, paleoecology, the responses of ecosystems
to abiotic and biotic change, and the relationships
of ecological patterns to evolving lineages. Studies
of environmental history emphasize the responses
of shallow-water depositional systems to changing
climates and rates of subsidence, reef dynamics,
and the history of ocean basins
Paleobiology
Collection Profile
- Specimen Count: 43 million
- Types: 290,000
- New Acquisitions: 5,000 |
Collections:
The Department of Paleobiology includes more than
480 different collections totaling some 43 million
fossils and over 290,000 types with the first specimens
accessioned from the Powell and Hayden Surveys during
the late 1800's Each year over 2,000 specimens from
the collections are loaned to students and researchers
around the world for scientific investigation as
well as for exhibit and about 5,000 specimens are
added to the permanent collections through donations
from private individuals and educational/public
institutions, transfers from other government agencies,
and staff collecting.
The
Paleobiology collections represent a microcosm of
the Museum, including fossils of invertebrates,
vertebrates, plants, and sediment samples collected
within and outside the United States. The collections
span geological time from the pre Cambrian to the
Recent. The collections are grouped into four main
sections: Invertebrate Paleontology, Vertebrate
Paleontology, Paleobotany, and Sedimentology; and
specimens broadly arranged into 8 categories: type,
non-type identified and unidentified, specialty,
stratigraphic, sediment, research, field, and teaching.
Unpublished material is arranged both taxonomically
and stratigraphically and is divided into categories
based on whether it is published or not. Published
specimens are grouped by geologic age and taxon.
Sediment samples and cores are arranged by date
and locality. The specimen collections are complemented
by a collection of paleontological art including
over 2,500 works, most representing historic illustrations
of specimens in the collections. In addition to
paleontological art, the Department's archival collections
include documentation such as field notebooks and
annotated maps.
Invertebrate
Paleontology:
There are several outstanding invertebrate paleontology
collections, including the Trilobite Type Collection;
Cenozoic Marine Mollusk Type Collection; Burgess
Shale Collection; Echinodermata including the Springer
Collection; Glass Mountain Collection (Brachiopoda);
Green River Insect Collection; Forminifera Collection;
Solnhofen Collection; and the Micropaleontologic
Reference Center Collection housing more than 10,000
microfossil samples of foraminifera in specimen
containers, as well as calcareous nannofossils,
radiolarians and diatoms on slides. The holdings
of the Burgess Shale total over 65,000 specimens
and represent the largest collection of these fossils
in the world. Most invertebrate type and non-type
collections, published and unpublished specimens
are kept within their distinct collections, grouped
by Class and age.
The
Springer Collection of echinoderms, donated by Frank
Springer in 1911, is the largest repository of fossil
crinoids in the world. It consists of nearly 4,500
primary types, including 1,678 holotypes, mostly
from Paleozoic sequences in North America and Europe.
In addition to the primary types there are more
than 100,000 secondary types derived from all parts
of the world.
The
Foraminifera Collection is the largest repository
in the world of foraminiferal type specimens including
over 16,000 primary types (holotypes and paratypes)
and over 200,000 secondary types. This assemblage
represents about 75% of all the type specimens of
the American smaller foraminifera and 90% of the
larger American Mesozoic and Cenozoic foraminifera.
The collection includes the Cushman Collection of
Foraminifera, willed to the Smithsonian by Dr. Joseph
A Cushman, of approximately 150,000 mounted slides,
25,000 type slides and figured specimens.
Vertebrate
Paleontology:
Outstanding collections include Hagerman Horse Collection;
the Teleoceras Collection; Marsh Dinosaur Collection;
and the Fossil Marine Mammal Collection. Vertebrate
collections of fish, amphibians and reptiles are
arranged taxonomically while the mammals are organized
first by stage and then taxonomy.
The
first significant dinosaur fossils added to the
museum's collections were the type specimen of the
sauropod Dystrophaeus viaemalae, collected by J.
S. Newberry and donated in 1859, and the Lower Jurassic
dinosaur footprints from the Connecticut Valley,
donated in 1861. The collections currently include
over 1,500 catalogued specimens of dinosaurs, 30
of which are on display. The Marsh Collection, the
largest single dinosaur collection at the Smithsonian,
includes some of the most important dinosaurs known
to science including exhibit specimens of Allosaurus,
Stegosaurus, Camptosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Triceratops,
and Edmontosaurus.
Paleobotany:
The paleobotany type collection, considered among
the best collection worldwide, is arranged by publication
date and author while the rest of the paleobotany
collections are organized by stratigraphy, collector,
or age. The fossil plant collections are complemented
by two collections of modern cleared and stained
leaf samples of flowering plants, preserved on more
than 20,000 glass slides, the best of their kind
for comparison with fossil material.
Sedimentology:
The Sediment Collection includes a reference collection
of over 120,000 stratigraphic and sediment samples
as well as representative material collected during
historic cruises such as the Albatross and Coastal
Survey Studies conducted in the late 1800's.
Facilities:
Laboratories of the Department include the Paleontology
Preparation Lab, Sedimentology Lab, Acid Room, and
several specialized preparation areas for invertebrates
and fossil plants. These laboratories are well equipped
for paleontological, sedimentological, and marine
geological research. The Department maintains a
darkroom, facilities for preparation of thin sections,
petrographic equipment, X-ray apparatus, and several
facilities for bulk maceration of matrix-bound fossil
specimens ranging from arthropod cuticles to vertebrate
bones.
The
Applied Morphometrics Laboratory is equipped to
help scientists use advanced technology and state-of-the-art
data analysis in support of their research covering
a broad range of needs in scientific computing;
from digitally capturing specimens in both two-
and three-dimensions, and analysis of the resultant
data, to the use of advanced graphics software for
the publication and presentation of the results.
Field
Work:
Most of the department's research is conducted in
several regions of the globe. The most common field
locality is the Western Interior of North America,
and involves collections of paleobotanical, vertebrate,
and invertebrate fossils from Late Paleozoic to
Neogene deposits. Another major site is Africa,
especially southern Africa, where Permian to Triassic
strata are examined for biotal turnoval; eastern
Africa, particularly the Pliocene to Recent record
of hominids and co-occurring mammals in Kenya and
the adjacent region; and the Nile Delta in northeastern
Africa, where the sedimentological and human record
of Dynastic to Roman Egypt is preserved. The Department
also is actively involved in research of coral reefs
at Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, as well as sites across
the major oceans where sediment cores are examined
for microfossil and physical material to detect
major environmental and biological events during
the past 100 million years.
Publications:
The Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology is
a monographic series dedicated to the publication
of extensive systematic studies of fossil organisms.
The Atoll Research Bulletin covers research on the
biology, ecology, and environmental settings of
present-day and fossil coral reefs. The aperiodic
Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Newsletter informs
colleagues of research, colloquia, and other events
pertaining to the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems
consortium at the NMNH. The Fossil Record is the
quarterly Department newsletter and includes narrative
updates of departmental activities and research.
Education
and Outreach:
The Department of Paleobiology organizes and participates
in a variety of public outreach programs, both formally
and informally. The most popular educational program
is the Paleo Training Program, which consists of
two series of classes plus field trips covering
an introduction to geology and paleontology, vertebrate
fossil preparation and collections management -
all taught by Department staff. The Department has
an active and educational web site and an active
volunteer. The departmental web site describes research
at the department, features paleobiological images,
and provides interactives on fossils, geologic time,
and paleoecology. Through a variety of cooperative
arrangements staff members act both formally and
informally as advisors to graduate students and
occasionally teach courses at universities both
locally and nationally. Specimens are made available
to students for thesis work through loans to their
academic advisors and students and researchers are
welcome to visit the collections and facilities
to conduct their investigations on-site. Each year,
the Department provides hundreds of hours of access
to the collections, allowing the scientific community
as well as the public to use and tour the collections.
Libraries:
The Department of Paleobiology maintains 7 libraries.
For some, oversight is jointly shared with the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries (Kellogg, Vertebrate Paleontology,
Cooper). For others (Todd, Paleobotany, Coral, Brachiopod)
the responsibility for care and maintenance rests
solely with Paleobiology staff. The libraries contain
books of general interest to geology and paleontology,
as well as volumes specific to the taxonomic focus.
The department houses a complete set of the Deep
Sea Drilling Project-Ocean Drilling Program publications
in the Micropaleontological Reference Center.
The
Vertebrate Paleontology library collection holds
over 1,800 volumes focusing on physical geography,
stratigraphy and systematic paleontology and paleozoology
of chordates and vertebrates of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic,
Tertiary, and Quaternary periods. The Cooper Reading
Room contains about 250 volumes on general geology,
invertebrate paleobiology, historical geology, paleontology
and other subjects.
The
Remington Kellogg Library of Marine Mammalogy contains
about 1,800 books and bound journals on all aspects
of fossil and living marine mammals, including paleontology,
morphology and phylogeny.
Programs
& Affiliates
Delta
Global Change Program: The Delta Global Change
Program is a long-term research effort involving
25 specialists from 13 international laboratories.
This program is assessing -- for the first time
-- the speed with which environmental changes are
threatening fertile river deltas around the world.
Deltas under study include those of the Nile River
in Egypt, the Rhone River in France, the Yangtze
River in China, and the Mississippi River in the
United States. Contact: Daniel J. Stanley.
The
Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program:
The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program
(ETE) is an interdisciplinary program of the Museum
that resides within the Department of Paleobiology.
The purpose of this program is to document and interpret
the history of terrestrial ecosystems from 420 million
years ago to the present. Program scientists study
the effects of environmental changes on the ecology
and evolution of land plants and animals. Information
from the fossil and geological record provides a
unique perspective on ecological change through
comparisons of past ecosystems with each other and
with those of the present day. Contacts: Anna K.
Behrensmeyer and Scott L. Wing.
For
more information about the NMNH Department of Paleobiology,
including a complete staff listing and research
initiatives, visit the Paleobiology
website.
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