We report here the first neoselachian fossil fauna from Eocene nearshore marine deposits of the Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar.…
Biology & Life Sciences
Paleoecology and Paleobiology of Extinct Species
This PLOS ONE Collection showcases recent publications that aim to reconstruct extinct species’ interactions with both the abiotic and biotic environment, including unraveling past faunal communities from fossil assemblages and fossil trackways to analyzing interactions between species from tooth wear patterns and paleopathology. The research articles compiled in this collection highlight the dynamics in ancient and changing ecosystems.
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Image Credit: Brian Engh
PLOS ONE
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PLOS ONE A middle – late Eocene neoselachian assemblage from nearshore marine deposits, Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar
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PLOS ONE A method for reconstructing temporal changes in vegetation functional trait composition using Holocene pollen assemblages
Methods of reconstructing changes in plant traits over long time scales are needed to understand the impact of changing environmental…
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PLOS ONE Complementary approaches to tooth wear analysis in Tritylodontidae (Synapsida, Mammaliamorpha) reveal a generalist diet
Stereoscopic microwear and 3D surface texture analyses on the cheek teeth of ten Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous tritylodontid…
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PLOS ONE Skull remains of the dinosaur Saturnalia tupiniquim (Late Triassic, Brazil): With comments on the early evolution of sauropodomorph feeding behaviour
Saturnalia tupiniquim is a sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Carnian–c. 233 Ma) Santa Maria Formation of Brazil. Due to its…
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PLOS ONE Dinosaur ichnology and sedimentology of the Chignik Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Aniakchak National Monument, southwestern Alaska; Further insights on habitat preferences of high-latitude hadrosaurs
While there are now numerous records of dinosaurs from Cretaceous rocks around the state of Alaska, very few fossil records of terrestrial…
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PLOS ONE Were ancient foxes far more carnivorous than recent ones?—Carnassial morphological evidence
Crown shape variation of the first lower molar in the arctic (Vulpes lagopus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) was analyzed using five groups…
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PLOS ONE High frequencies of theropod bite marks provide evidence for feeding, scavenging, and possible cannibalism in a stressed Late Jurassic ecosystem
Bite marks provide direct evidence for trophic interactions and competition in the fossil record. However, variations in paleoecological…
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PLOS ONE A Pleistocene freshwater ichthyofaunal assemblage from central Argentina: What kind of fishes lived in the Pampean lagoons before the extinction of the megafauna?
This study contributes to the knowledge of continental fishes recovered from sedimentary successions corresponding to the Bonaerean…
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PLOS ONE Paleoceanography of the Late Cretaceous northwestern Tethys Ocean: Seasonal upwelling or steady thermocline?
In this study we attempted to assess whether seasonal upwelling or a steady thermocline persisted at the western margin of the Tethys…
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PLOS ONE Using tooth enamel microstructure to identify mammalian fossils at an Eocene Arctic forest
Lower Eocene (Wasatchian-aged) sediments of the Margaret Formation on Ellesmere Island in Canada’s High Arctic preserve evidence of a…
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PLOS ONE Taphonomic information from the modern vertebrate death assemblage of Doñana National Park, Spain
Modern death assemblages provide insights about the early stages of fossilization and useful ecological information about the species…
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PLOS ONE Stomach contents of the archaeocete Basilosaurus isis: Apex predator in oceans of the late Eocene
Apex predators live at the top of an ecological pyramid, preying on animals in the pyramid below and normally immune from predation…
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PLOS ONE Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones
Claws are involved in a number of behaviours including locomotion and prey capture, and as a result animals evolve claw morphologies that…
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PLOS ONE Shelter in Smoleń III – A unique example of stratified Holocene clastic cave sediments in Central Europe, a lithostratigraphic stratotype and a record of regional paleoecology
A cave site Shelter in Smoleń III (southern Poland) contains an approximately 2-m-thick stratified sequence of Upper Pleistocene and…
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PLOS ONE The influence of collection method on paleoecological datasets: In-place versus surface-collected fossil samples in the Pennsylvanian Finis Shale, Texas, USA
There are multiple common methods for collecting fossil material in the field for paleoecological analyses, so it is important to…