Dr. Colin Sumrall and René Shroat-Lewis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

My Research: I am interested in understanding the paleoecology of Ordovician edrioasteroids. The Maysvillian edrioasteroid pavement, collected in Kentucky by the Dry Dredgers and Drs. Colin Sumrall, David Meyer, and Carlton Brett, and currently housed at Cincinnati Museum Center, provides us with a “snapshot” of the living community. This rare glimpse into the size and age distribution of individuals living at the time of burial provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the following:
1) the connection between interspecific and intraspecific competition of Ordovician edrioasteroids. 2) the spatial relationships using nearest neighbor analysis. 3) the preservational quality of various edrioasteroid pavements. 4) the likelihood of edrioasteroid mobility as a means to escape predation and/or competition for food and space. I am also interested in the biogeography of Ordovician edrioasteroids. The majority of known Ordovician edrioasteroids have been found in North American localities; a few others have been found scattered in Peri-Gondwandan continents. I hope that compiling data of known edrioasteroid localities will help us to better predict regions where additional specimens may be found.
Working with the CMC Collection
The Cincinnati Museum Center Invertebrate Paleontology Collection contains the single largest collection of edrioasteroids on Earth! The collection affords me the opportunity to investigate multiple specimens without the need for expensive and time consuming field work. Having the Maysville edrioasteroid pavement maintained in a controlled environment serves many purposes. First, the preservation quality is retained as the easily disarticulated edrioasteroids are not subjected to weathering processes. Also, a more comfortable working environment allows for better, and possibly more in-depth, data collection. Adequate space in the repository allowed the reconstruction of the original edrioasteroid pavement, thereby allowing me the opportunity to better assess and measure the edrioasteroid community as it was 443 million years ago. Immediate access to microscopes, a camera room, and internet resources helps to expedite data collection as well. It is my hope that my research will lead to a better understanding of not only the edrioasteroid environment but expand our knowledge of sampling sites.

Thursday, July 3 - Saturday, July 5, 2008