News
2010
Golidlocks and dinosaur tracks
Terrain thought to be ruled by only the largest dinosaurs to inhabit the earth could have in fact been home to dozens of other creatures, ground-breaking research from The University of Manchester has found.
Writing in the journal of the Royal Society Interface, Dr Peter Falkingham and colleagues Dr Phil Manning, Dr Lee Margetts, and Dr Karl Bates have discovered that dinosaurs only created lasting footprints if the soil conditions were perfect to do so. Dubbed the ‘Goldilocks Effect’ - as all conditions have to be ‘just right’ for a print to be created - this work shows how a great number of animals can walk over an area, but only a few leave behind tracks.
The work used computer simulation to show model track formation by a number of dinosaurs. A second aspect of the work explained how variations in the shape of a track can be formed through complex substrate mechanics, rather than purely as a function of the animal's foot. This research will help to tease apart which features of a track tell us about the animal, and which tell us about the environment.
The fulll reference is:
‘The 'Goldilocks' effect: preservation bias in vertebrate track assemblages’, by P. L. Falkingham, K. T. Bates, L. Margetts and P. L. Manning
And the paper is available here.
Feathers of Archaeopteryx
New research carried out collaboratively with scientists at the University of Manchester (Dr Roy Wogelius, Dr Bill Sellers and Dr Phil Manning) has shown that original organic material remains in the preserved feathers of a specimen of Archaeopteryx. By using the synchrotron based at the Stanford Liear Accelerator, California, the researchers were able to map and quantify trace metals in the 150 Million year old fossil, revealing information that would otherwise unavailable.
The story appeared on numerous websites, including the BBC.
The full reference for the paper is:
Bergmann, U., Morton, R.W., Manning, P.L., Sellers, W.I., Farrar, S., Huntley, K.G., Wogelius, R.A>, Larson, P. 2010. Archaeopteryx feathers and bne chemestry fully revealed via synchrotron imaging. PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1001569107.
Evolutionary robotic simulations of dinosaurs
Karl Bates and collaborators have used evolutionary robotic simulations to explore the effects of parameters on birpedal dinosaur running. By constructing computer models and subsequently altering input variables, Bates and colleagues are able to show which parameters have the most effect, and can highlight the extent to which our lack of knowledge of dinosaur soft tissue affects our reconstructions.
The paper's reference is:
Bates, K.T., Manning, P.L. Margetts, L., and Sellers, W.I. 2010. Sensitivity analysis in evolutionary robotic simulations of bipedal dinosaur running. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(2):458-466
Discovery of bird tracks at Mammoth Site
Peter Falkingham and colleagues based at both the University of Manchester and The Hot Springs Mamoth Site, South Dakota, report in the latest issue of Ichnos on the discovery of small bird tracks at the site known for it's megafauna remains. Excavated for some 30 years, the new finds add to the diversity of fossils found at the site, and provide a new insight into the palaeoenvironment of the site.
The fulll reference is:
Falkingham, P.L., Agenbroad, L.D., Thompson, K., and Manning, P.L. 2010. Bird tracks at the Hot Springs Mammoth Site, South Dakota, USA. Ichnos 17:34-39
2009
How Big Was Big Al? and Gait Simulation (1st December)
Karl Bates, along with co-authors from SEAES and FLS, provide a mass estimate of the dinosaur Big Al, made famous by the BBC's Ballad of Big Al. Being one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons, Big Al provides a rare opportunity to work with a full animal. The mass is ~1500 kg in case you're wondering.
In the same issue of Palaeo electronica, Sellers et al reconstruct the the gait of extinct vertebrates, using high performance computing and genetic algorithms.
You can read the papers for yourself at Palaeo Electronica, or you can find the papers with the following reference:
Bates, K.T., Falkingham, P.L., Breithaupt, B.H., Hodgetts, D., Sellers, W.I., and Manning, P.L. 2009. How Big was 'Big Al'? Quantifying the Effect of Soft Tissue and Osteological Unknowns on Mass Predictions for Allosaurus (Dinosauria Theropoda). Palaeontologia Electronica. 12(3):14A
Sellers, W.I., Manning, P.L., Lyson, T., Stevens, K., and Margetts, L. 2009. Virtual Palaeontology: Gait Reconstruction of Extinct Vertebrates Using High Performance Computing. Palaeontologia Electronica. 12(3):11A
Manchester Palaeo Research Group welcomes new PhD student (1st October)
We would like to welcome Holly Barden to the research group at Manchester. Holly has joined us from Sheffield University, and will be looking at organic geochemistry and fossil biomarkers. Holly was awarded a NERC studentship to undertake her PhD with us, and we wish her all the best for the next three years.
Digital Imaging and Public Engagement in Palaeontology (17th July)
Karl Bates and colleagues discuss the use of modern digital methods employed by palaeontologists in bringing scientific discoveries to the public. There is a naturally high level of interesting in palaeontology by the general public, and this can be exploited to teach not only about palaeontology, but scientific methods too. By using laser scanners and digitisation methods, complex concepts can be shown to members of the public in a highly visual manner. In communicating palaeontological discoveries, Bates explains, a scan of a tracksite, for instance, can be used to take the layman on a virtual fieldtrip, with information overlain on the virtual rocks, highlighting tracks that would otherwise be hard to see.
The full reference for the paper is:
Bates, K.T., Falkingham, P.L., Hodgetts, D., Farlow, J.O., Breithaupt, H., O'Brien, M., Matthews, N., Sellers, W.I., and Manning, P.L. 2009. Digital imaging and public engangement in palaeontology. Geology Today, 25(3): 95-100.
Four new species of insect described from the Lower Cretaceous of Dorset (7th May)
James Jepson together with co-authors Rob Coram and Ed Jarzembowski have described four new species of snakefly (Insecta: Raphidioptera) from the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, Dorset, UK. The new species: Mesoraphidia durlstonensis, M. purbeckensis, M. websteri and M. mitchelli are members of the Mesozoic family Mesoraphidiidae. They represent the first formally described species of snakefly from the Purbeck. The species hint at a possible faunal change associated with the climate change in the Lower Cretaceous of Britain.
The full reference for the paper is:
Jepson, J.E., Coram, R.A. and Jarzembowski, E.A. 2009. Raphidioptera (Insecta: Neuropterida) from the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, Dorset, UK. Cretaceous Research, 30: 527-532.
Computational Palaeontology makes front cover of NERC's Planet Earth Online (25th March)
Peter Falkingham's article on modern research methods in palaeontology can be found in the current issue of NERC's Planet Earth magazine (available online here, and in print).
The article outlines some of the modern techniques used in palaeontology, not only at Manchester, but throughout the U.K., from laser scanning, to CT imaging, to biomechanics and genetic algorithms. You can find out more about the computational palaeontology undertaken by our research group here.
Fattysaurus or Thinnysaurus? How dinosaurs measure up with laser imaging (19th Feb)
Karl Bates and his colleagues in the palaeontology and biomechanics research group have reconstructed the bodies of five dinosaurs, two T. rex (Stan at the Manchester Museum and the Museum of the Rockies cast MOR555), an Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, a Struthiomimus sedens and an Edmontosaurus annectens.
The team used laser scanning (LiDAR) and computer modelling methods to create a range of 3D models of the specimens, attempting to reconstruct their body sizes and shape as in life.The laser scanner images the full mounted skeleton, resulting in a detailed 3D model in which each bone retains its spatial position and articulation. This provides a high resolution skeletal framework around which the body cavity and internal organs such as stomach, lungs and air sacs can be reconstructed. This has allowed calculation of body segment masses, centres of mass and moments of inertia for each animal – all the information that is needed to analyse body movements.
Having created their ‘best-guess’ reconstruction of each animal, they then varied the volumes of body segments and respiratory organs to find the maximum plausible range of mass for the animals. Even scientists cannot be sure exactly how fat or thin animals like T. rex were in life, and the team were interested in exactly how broad the range of possible values were for body mass.They believe that the lower weight estimates are most likely to be correct as there is no good reason for the dinosaurs to weigh more than they need to as this would affect their speed, energy use and demands on the respiratory system.
The team also measured the body mass of an ostrich, as an existing subject that would show how accurate their technique was, and found the results to be correct.
They will now use the results to further investigate the locomotion of dinosaurs, specifically how they ran.
Karl said: “Our technique allows people to see and decide for themselves how fat or thin the dinosaurs might have been in life. You can see the skeleton with a belly. Anyone from a five-year-old to a Professor can see it and say, ‘I think this reconstruction is too fat or too thin’.
The findings were published in PLoS ONE, an open access journal. The paper can be found here.
Manchester Palaeontology Research Group welcomes new PhD student. (1st Feb)
The research group would like to extend a warm welcome to Ms Zartasha Mustansar who joined Manchester in February 2009. Zartasha was previously working as an Honorary Lecturer in the International Islamic University in Islamabad Pakistan, where she was awarded a first class degree in Bioinformatics.
Zartasha has beaten overwhelming international competition to secure a highly coveted Microsoft/Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award. The PhD studentship will be jointly supervised by Dr Lee Margetts (RCS), Dr Bill Sellers (FLS), Dr Phil Manning (SEAES) and Dr Hillel Kugler (Microsoft). The research topic is titled "Computational Biology: Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life".
We are delighted that this award gives us the opportunity to forge closer links with Microsoft Research Cambridge who are co-funding the studentship through their Microsoft Research European Fellowship Scheme
Computer simulation shows webbed footprints may not mean webbed feet. (1st Jan)
New research published by the University of Manchester shows, using computer simulation, how 'webbed' footprints, like those made by a duck, can be made by feet without webbing. Peter Falkingham and colleagues used Finite Element Analysis to simulate a virtual soil which was then indented by a virtual foot. When the soil was given the properties of a very wet, sloppy, mud, the sediment was pushed up between the digits of the three-toed foot before collapsing into a platform reminiscent of structures in true webbed tracks.
This research has implications for the evolution of webbing in early birds, as well as reported webbing in other vertebrates. Being soft tissue, interdigital webbing is rarely preserved in the fossil record. This means that much of our knowledge regarding web-footed animals comes from the fossil record. This research cautions for careful interpretation and reinterpretation of fossil tracks showing 'webbing.'
The full reference for the paper is:
Falkingham, P.L., Margetts, L., Smith, I.M. and Manning, P.L., 2009. Reinterpretation of palmate and semi-palmate (webbed) fossil tracks; insights from finite element modelling. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 271(1-2): 69-76.