THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Paleontological Society programs scheduled for the Philadelphia meeting of the Geological Society of America, October 22 to October 25, 2006

Paleontological Society Short Course

Geochronology: Emerging Opportunities
Saturday, October 21,  8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
Philadelphia Convention Center, room TBA

Study of the history of life is critically dependent on knowledge of the precise times and sequence of events.  Accurate estimates of time depend on the quality of radiometric ages and the manner in which they are integrated in stratigraphic correlation and development of timescales.  The impetus for this short course came from the work of a 2003 Earthtime workshop.  The short course will focus on new windows on the history of life that have been opened by collaboration between paleontologists and geochronologists in estimating geologic ages.

Speakers who have agreed to participate include: Sam Bowring, Doug Erwin, George Gehring, Felix Gradstein, Brent Miller, Heiko Palike, Troy Rasbury, Paul Renné, and Peter Sadler

Organizers:  Thomas Olszewski, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, 3115 TAMU, College Station, TX  77843-3115, phone: (979) 845-2465, fax: (979) 845-6162, email: tomo@geo.tamu.edu; and Warren D. Huff, Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 0013, Cincinnati OH 45221-0013, phone: (513) 556-3731, fax: (513) 556-6931, email: Warren.Huff@uc.edu

No fee.  A Short Course book will be available for purchase.

Paleontological Society Sponsored Topical Sessions

The EARTHTIME Project
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Samuel A. Bowring, Douglas H. Erwin

EARTHTIME is an international, community-based scientific initiative aimed at sequencing Earth history through the integration of geochronology, stratigraphy and palaeontology to resolve the rates of geological and evolutionary processes.

Mass Extinctions: New Approaches Analyzing Process Links Between Land and Sea
Cosponsored with GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division
Organizers: David J. Bottjer, Peter D. Ward

This session will highlight newly developed analyses that explore mass extinction processes which affect both marine and terrestrial environments, including how extinction in one realm might cause extinction in the other.

Extinction, Dwarfing and the Lilliput Effect
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Richard J. Twitchett, Bridget S. Wade

This session will examine the dwarfing of organisms during Phanerozoic extinction events that is commonly known as the ‘Lilliput Effect’.  Taxonomic, morphometric, and paleoecological studies will be included.

Changes in Ocean and Atmospheric Redox State and the Evolution of Life
Cosponsored with GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division
Organizers: Ganqing Jiang, Andrey Bekker

This session will bridge a gap between specialists using various tools to constrain the redox state of modern, Phanerozoic, and Precambrian oceans and atmospheres. Studies of elemental, isotopic, and mineralogical redox indicators will be presented.

Biotic Response to Global Environmental Change: Analogs for the Future of Life on Earth
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizer: Margaret L. Fraiser

Analyses of effects of atmospheric and oceanic changes on microbial, macroinvertebrate, and vertebrate life in the terrestrial and marine realms that could represent analogs for the future of life on Earth, if CO2 levels continue to rise.

Life on Late Devonian Continents—Organisms and Ecosystems in Transition: In Honor of James Richard "Dick" Beerbower
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Edward B. Daeschler, Walter L. Cressler

This session will take a multi-disciplinary approach towards integrating data on the biotic and physical conditions of Late Devonian floodplains where evolutionary changes among plants and animals dramatically expanded early continental ecosystems.

“Ice House” / “Hothouse” – An Analysis of Late Paleozoic Floras and Their Response to Global Climate Change
Cosponsored with several other societies and GSA divisions
Organizers: Cortland Eble, Thomas D. Demchuk, Hermann Pfefferkorn, Robert A. Gastaldo

This session will investigate the composition and dynamics of terrestrial vegetation during the Permian-Carboniferous ice age and attempt to resolve the scales and patterns of biotic turnover.

Late Permian–Early Triassic Earth
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Ezat Heydari, Thomas C. Wynn

Effects of tectonics, volcanism, mantle disturbances, geochemistry, paleoceanography, paleontology, exotic sedimentary features, extraterrestrial events, and mineralogy on events that affected the Earth in the Late Permian and Early Triassic.

The Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary Interval in the Atlantic Coastal Plain
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: William B. Gallagher, Kenneth J. Lacovara

This session will summarize recent research on the paleontology and biostratigraphy of the Late Cretaceous–early Tertiary stratigraphic sequence in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North America, focusing on the record around the K/T boundary.

The Terrestrial Eocene–Oligocene Boundary Revisited: A Comparison of Multi-proxy Records of Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Change
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Dennis Terry, Emmett Evanoff

New data is challenging the hypothesis of cooling and drying across the terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene boundary. This session provides a forum to present new data and to compare multiple-proxy records of terrestrial paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental change.

High Resolution Quaternary Records from Cave Environments
Cosponsored with several other societies and GSA divisions
Organizers: Bonnie A.B. Blackwell, Donald McFarlane

Caves are geological time-capsules. When dated, they reveal detailed patterns of climatic, sedimentological, and hydrological changes that can be linked to botanical, faunal, and archaeological turnover.

An Appetite for Apatite: Conodont-Based Geological Investigations in the 21st Century
Cosponsored with Pander Society and Geochemical Society
Organizers: Jared R. Morrow, D. Jeffrey Over, Maya Elrick

Session highlights recent, increasingly innovative uses of conodont microfossils as a tool in a wide variety of geological applications, including geochemical, geochronologic, paleoceanographic, paleoclimatic, event stratigraphic, and paleotectonic studies.

Applied Reef Coral Paleoecology
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizer: Benjamin J. Greenstein

This session assembles researchers engaged in various aspects of reef coral community paleoecology. Research results will be presented in the context of their application to ecological disturbances facing modern reef coral communities.

The Dynamic Reef and Shelly Communities of the Paleozoic: A Tribute to the Research Career of Paul Copper
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Leif Tapanila, Jisuo Jin

A session highlighting the environmental and evolutionary changes that helped define the Paleozoic Era as a time of innovation and complexity for shallow marine benthic communities.

Fossil Behavior: In Honor of Adolf Seilacher
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: A.A. Ekdale, Richard G. Bromley

The fossil record of animal behavior as represented by the wide spectrum of trace fossils ranging from the Precambrian to the present.

Trilobite Paleobiology and Evolution: In Honor of Brian Chatterton
Sponsored by the Paleontological Society
Organizers: Brenda R. Hunda, Mark Webster

Trilobites as major contributors to the Paleozoic record: paleobiologic and phylogenetic investigations, and their contributions to understanding patterns of diversity and evolution.

From the Scientific Revolution to the Enlightenment: Emergence of Modern Geology and Evolutionary Thought from the 16th–18th Century
Cosponsored with GSA History of Geology Division and History of the Earth Sciences Society
Organizer: Gary Rosenberg

This session will explore discoveries made about nature and the momentous social changes of the 16th–18th Centuries, which influenced the growing realization that the Earth and life upon it have a long history of evolution.

If you are thinking of organizing a future short course or a GSA topical session, please contact the PS Program Coordinator, Mark Wilson (mwilson@acs.wooster.edu). The next opening for a short course is in October, 2009. Topical session proposals for the 2007 GSA meeting (October 28-31, 2007, in Denver, Colorado) must be submitted by the session organizers to GSA by January, 10, 2007.

PS sponsorship should be obtained prior to submitting a proposal to GSA. To facilitate consideration of sponsorship by the Paleontological Society, please submit your ideas to Mark Wilson by October 10, 2006, especially if you wish to request funding for the session.

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