Benedictine University Professor: Prehistoric life is a database just waiting to be downloaded

In two recently published articles in the May issue of Paleobiology, Phil Novack-Gottshall, Ph.D., associate professor of Biological Sciences at Benedictine University, proposes new methods for verifying the habits of ancient life. While on sabbatical last fall, he created an open-source software package called "ecospace," which utilizes a database of fossil records to provide a more statistically-sound picture of how prehistoric organisms lived.

"The core objective was to build this large database on how these organisms behaved, how they ate, where they moved and where they lived," Novack-Gottshall said. "A lot of people have done it in qualitative ways, which is good. I don't think they are wrong, but if you are only dealing in subjective measures, it's hard to know if what you are measuring is real or just perceptual.

Currently, the database numbers about 3,000 different kinds of fossils dating back to when animals first emerged (about 500 million years ago).

Many paleobiologists focus on how life became significant on Earth during the Paleozoic Era. Others are concerned with the Cenozoic Era because of the availability and quality of the fossils and their relationship to living organisms today, which makes it easier to confirm their ecology, Novack-Gottshall said.

"People haven't really confirmed these things until recently because in the past, these answers were settled by the elders of the field who said this is what the patterns were," he added. "No one really questioned it, but now it is time to go back and make sure what they are saying is true."

But much research and data is missing from a key middle period, the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs thrived 65 to 250 million years ago.

"As far as I know, no one has the data for this period of time in this kind of a database," Novack-Gottshall said. "There are a few who have some data, but they are not looking at the full breadth of what's out there. There is a race going on scientifically to try and get this data, and I am trying to get there first."

Among some of the claims that Novack-Gottshall could better answer with the data is why more predators lived in a certain time period or how rapidly organisms evolved in body size over time, he said.

Learn more at ben.edu/prehistoric.

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SOURCE Benedictine University

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