The Jackson School’s paleontology program is distinguished by its diverse and active faculty, modern equipment, and extensive reference
collection. It is one of the top 10 paleontology graduate programs in the
nation according to a 2006 review by U.S. News & World Report.
Paleontological research at the
Jackson School is motivated by several overarching questions: What were the
causes and mechanisms for change in major lineages represented in the fossil
record? What is the evolutionary history of lineages such as echinoderms,
reptiles, and mammals? How can we use the fossil record and phylogenetic
hypotheses to test current theories, and make predictions about potential
consequences of current global-change phenomena?
Vertebrate paleontologists in the Jackson School focus on the evolutionary
morphology of vertebrates, evolutionary ecology (recent and ancient),
phylogenetic systematics, and the evolution of development. A major tool in this
work is a high resolution computer-aided tomography scanner for 3D imaging of fossil vertebrates.
Invertebrate paleontologists in the Jackson School focus on the development of
early Paleozoic echinoderms. This includes trying to determine the origin, early
evolutionary history, paleoecology and closest relatives of the earliest
crinoids in the Early Ordovician based on new collections from the Rocky
Mountains. Researchers are also looking at the expansion of all types of
echinoderms during the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician
Biodiversification Event.
There is also interest among the School’s invertebrate paleontologists in
relationships between organisms over time, especially within reef environments.
Rudists, a type of extinct bivalve important in reef environments, are a
particular focus of interest. Researchers explore the connections between
changes in major reef-building organisms through time to better understand how
conditions in the global ocean changed. Because they provide a unique long term
perspective, the University’s extensive fossil collections are used by
researchers to relate ancient to modern climate changes.
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- Origin and evolution of Cambrian and Ordovician echinoderms: classes,
functional morphology, paleoecology, and community structure of early
echinoderm faunas.
- Origin and evolution of Cambrian and Ordovician echinoderms: classes,
functional morphology, paleoecology, and community structure of early
echinoderm faunas.
- North American Pliocene-Pleistocene mammalian biostratigraphy.
- Application of phylogenetic systematics to Quaternary paleontology.
- Evolution of vertebrate development.
- Comparative Anatomy and Systematics of living and fossil Amniotes.
- Cretaceous vertebrates: structure and relationships of Cretaceous
dinosaurs and associated faunas of Texas.
- Paleobiological studies covering many topics are conducted on a
cooperative basis with the School of Biological Sciences.
- Late Cretaceous non-marine of West Texas and Western Interior.
- Late Triassic to Early Jurassic non-marine faunas of Southwestern U.S.
- Pleistocene faunal dynamics in the western U.S.
- Evolutionary morphology of Australian lizards.
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The University has one of the largest paleontology collections in the country,
including four million non-vertebrate specimens and one million vertebrate
specimens. The collections are global in scope, but are especially strong in the
American Southwest. The collection also includes approximately 10,000 skeletons
of recently living vertebrates for comparative studies.
The Jackson School operates the world’s first high-resolution X-ray CT scanner
in an academic science department. The CT scanner is used to create 2D and 3D
visualizations of the internal and external structure of living and extinct
vertebrates, and a growing number of non-vertebrates. These visualizations are
freely available online through the Digital Morphology library (www.digimorph.org),
a National Science Foundation-funded initiative. Over 80 researchers around the
world have contributed over 300 specimens to the library. Digital Morphology
visualizations are now in use in classrooms and research labs around the world
and can be seen in a growing number of museum exhibition halls.
Other significant and unique facilities include: a screen washing facility; a
skeleton preparation facility capable of handling the largest vertebrates; a
facility for cleared and stained skeletal preparations; the Non-vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory; the
Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory; the Paleomagnetic Laboratory; and the
Microfossil Preparation Laboratory.
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Research opportunities are greatly expanded due to several affiliated
institutions: the University’s College of Natural Sciences, the Texas Natural
Science Center and the Bureau of Economic Geology, the latter of which functions
as the state geological survey.
We expect our
students to be self-motivated. There are extensive opportunities for domestic
and overseas research at the Jackson School. Examples of recent research
projects conducted by paleontology students:
- Penguin evolution (New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina)
- Evolutionary morphology of Australian lizards
- High-resolution X-ray tomography of the mammalian skull and sensory systems
- Evolution of the brain and sensory systems in dinosaurs
- The early history of dinosaurs in North America
- Asphalt deposits of Venezuela and their extinct vertebrates
- Climate and diversification of mammals, lizards, and snakes in the Cenozoic
- ArcGIS mapping to link databases to fossil specimens
- Computer modeling of echinoid morphology and growth
- Resolving the helicoplacoids, an enigmatic group of Early Cambrian echinoderms
- Pennsylvanian echinoids and their community paleoecology
- Evolutionary developmental anatomy of
chondrichthyan fishes
- Paleoecology of central Texas, with exploration of alternative methods of paleoecological reconstruction
- Evaluation of paleoecological models and their consequences in Pliocene sequence at the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho
- Middle Pleistocene vertebrate biogeography and faunal dynamics in the Great Basin and southern California
- Implications of skeletal variation for interpretation of the fossil record
- Paleogene vertebrate faunas from a new locality near Ankara, Turkey
- Morphology and fine-level systematics of caiman crocodilians
- Ear anatomy as a proxy for behavioral interpretations in fossil mammals
- Anatomy of the inner ear of mammals; seeking functional versus systematic characters
- Anatomical investigations on polypterid and catostomid fishes
- Phylogenetic analysis (through morphology) of xenosaurid lizards
The university has
graduated nearly 200 Ph.D.s in paleontology in the past century. Recent
endowments insure that the paleontology program will continue to grow in terms
of student field research opportunities, specimen collections, equipment and
library materials.
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