Geosciences Department
The Pace of Life: The (Often) Missing Element in Studies of the Fossil Record
Paleontologists are very good at describing the size and shape of living things on the ancient Earth. Often overlooked, however, are data on lifespan and growth rate. How fast animals grow and how long they live can give important insights about their ecology and evolution that are otherwise unattainable. Animals with skeletal parts that grow by accretion, adding layers like trees add growth rings, preserve a record of their size with age and of the number of years over
which they lived and grew. These so-called sclerochronological records of growth bands can be combined with chemistry to additionally reveal the environmental conditions in which the animal grew. This talk will introduce these kinds of data and what can be learned from them, drawing upon examples from the speaker’s research program, including discussions of the evolution of extreme longevity, morphological novelty, ecosystem energetics, and predator-prey relationships.
