Project Details
Projekt
Bone microanatomy, ichnology and paleoenvironments
Applicants
Dr. Eli Amson; Eudald Mujal, Ph.D.
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 508778113
Despite the fact that temnospondyls are one of the most important groups of early tetrapods, many questions regarding their lifestyle remain unanswered. This at least partly stems from their complex ontogeny and their propensity to developmental plasticity. Here, we will for the first time combine bone microanatomy, ichnology, and paleoenvironmental data to gain novel, fundamental insights into the paleobiology of these animals. In a first work package, we will quantify bone microanatomy in dense ontogenetic series to (1) identify potential shifts related to change of environment during ontogeny, and (2) quantify the influence of developmental plasticity in extant models in order to (3) compare these patterns to the ontogenetic trajectories traced for temnospondyls. In the second work package, we will perform a comprehensive reassessment of the temnospondyl ichnological record. We will here (4) characterize the diversity of track morphotypes (ichnotaxonomy), (5) revisit the associated track-trackmaker correlations, (6) attempt to correlate relative depth patterns to specific morphotypes (ichnotaxa), (7) infer locomotion and functional prevalence of autopodia based on trackway patterns and relative depth patterns, and (8) identify the correlations between locomotion styles, footprint size, and habitat. The third work package is an integrated analysis combining data from both bone microanatomy and ichnology. We will estimate the relative positions of the centers of mass and buoyancy of key temnospondyl species to (9) determine the functional prevalence of hands and feet and (10) confront these interpretations to the temnospondyl ichnological record. In a final work package, we will tackle environmentally induced plasticity, here combining microanatomical, paleoecological, sedimentological and geochemical data. Reconstructing environmental conditions, especially salinity, from habitats where multiple populations of two temnospondyl species are documented, we will (11) test whether salinity fluctuations are correlated with a trait which has already been tied to the plasticity of these taxa, bone mass.
DFG Programme
Research Units
