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41544-AC8
Patterns of Species Diversity as Paleoenvironmental Indicators: A New Approach
The purpose of this research is to test the utility of patterns of species diversity, as revealed by SHE analysis, as a method for recognizing biofacies in modern oceans and for reconstructing past environments. SHE analysis is a relatively new technique in biodiversity studies. It is based on information theory and the entropy of statistical distributions and was conceived and developed by the two Smithsonian co-workers on this project. The research program has been successful in that we have used SHE analysis to investigate species diversity patterns off New Zealand, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Atlantic Ocean.
During the past 12 months we (Culver and Smithsonian collaborators Buzas and Hayek) have achieved the following:
1) A paper by Buzas, M.A., Hayek, L.C., Hayward, B.W., Grenfell, H.R., Sabaa, A.T. was written, submitted and revised and is now in press in Deep-Sea Research Part 1. The paper examines trends in the biodiversity and community structure of deep-sea foraminifera around New Zealand. We now know that the well known latitudinal diversity gradient is also present around New Zealand even at depths of greater than 2000m.
2) A paper by Buzas, M.A., Hayek, L-A., Culver, S.J. was written, submitted and revised and is now in press in Marine Micropaleontology: The paper examines community structure of benthic foraminifera in the Gulf of Mexico. This study is particularly interesting in that it indicates that the reliability of one of the most used and referenced foraminiferal data sets is questionable. Observed values of species richness are much lower than expected in Phleger's (1951) northwestern Gulf data. Either biodiversity values have changed since Phleger's sampling (1947) or the data are unreliable due to the original sampling/processing methodology.
3) A paper by Culver, S.J., Grand Pre, C.A., Mallinson, D.J., Riggs, S.R., Corbett, D.R., Foley, J., Hale, M., Ricardo, J., Rosenberger, J., Smith, C.G., Smith, C.W., Snyder, S.W., Twamley, D., Farrell, K., Horton, B.P. on late Holocene barrier island collapse of the Outer Banks, North Carolina, U.S.A. was written and submitted to The Sedimentary Record. SHE analysis was utilized on a high resolution downcore foraminiferal dataset to help recognize environmentally related changes in foraminiferal assemblages.
4) Data sets for the shallow US Atlantic shelf and the deep Atlantic Oceans have been finalized and run through SHE analysis. Culver, Buzas and Hayek have scheduled time in October 2007 to interpret the results. At least one paper will result from this follow-up work during the next year.
5) In the final year of this grant, we employed four graduate students. They have had an opportunity to have their horizons broadened beyond their own theses through working on this project. They have learned how to put together and analyze a quality dataset and the efforts that go into producing a final report. All four students are undertaking research involving foraminifera; three of them have accompanied the PI on research visits to the Smithsonian Instituition. They will complete their theses in the next several months. One of these students is contemplating doctoral research.
6) In the final year of this grant, we employed four undergraduate students. They first learned what foraminifera are, how to process samples and pick foraminifera, and finally how to count specimens and produce a dataset for analysis. Just as importantly, they learned about research integrity and how scientific research is a mixture of an awful lot of hard work and a little insight. As a result of this experience, one student (a junior) intends to join our graduate program, two students (freshmen) will be science majors and likely minor in Geology. The final student is undecided about her future academic directions.
