What is it about?
Fossils are one of our best sources of information about the history of life, but they are often quite difficult to find. Here we propose a method to identify regions worth exploring for fossils. The idea is that most fossils of a given species will be found in areas where the species lived and was abundant for the longest periods. By modeling the areas of suitable climate for a species, and how this changed through time, we can identify these regions. But we also need to consider which are the areas where fossils can be easily preserved and discovered. By combining models that capture these three essential conditions, it is possible to identify areas in which to concentrate our efforts to look for fossils.
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Why is it important?
This is the first time models of the past distribution of species have been used to identify fossil-rich areas.
Perspectives
This was by first dip into the wonderful and fascinating world of paleoecology. Life originated more than 3.5 billion years ago. The vast majority of all the species that ever inhabited this planet are now extinct. Most climate changes, range shifts, ecosystem collapses, and all kind of exciting events for ecologists already happened. If you look at it this way, most ecology is paleoecology. It is history. And fossils are great clues to discover that history.
Sebastian Block
University of Adelaide
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Where to Dig for Fossils: Combining Climate-Envelope, Taphonomy and Discovery Models, PLoS ONE, March 2016, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151090.
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