Open data and digital morphology

Davies, Thomas G.; Rahman, Imran A.; Lautenschlager, Stephan; Cunningham, John A.; Asher, Robert J.; Barrett, Paul M.; Bates, Karl T.; Bengtson, Stefan; Benson, Roger; Boyer, Douglas; Braga, José; Bright, Jen A.; Claessens, Leon P. A. M.; Cox, Philip G.; Xi, Dong; Evans, Alistair R.; Falkingham, Peter L.; Friedman, Matt; Garwood, Russell J.; Goswami, Anjali; Hutchinson, John R.; Jeffery, Nathan; Johanson, Zerina; Lebrun, Renaud; Martínez‐Pérez, Carlos; Marugán‐Lobón, Jesús; O’Higgins, Paul; Metscher, Brian; Orliac, Maëva J.; Rowe, Timothy; Rücklin, Martin; Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R.; Shubin, Neil H.; Smith, Selena Y.; Starck, J. Matthias; Stringer, Chris; Summers, Adam P.; Sutton, Mark D.; Walsh, Stig; Weisbecker, Vera; Witmer, Lawrence M.; Wroe, Stephen; Yin, Zongjun; Rayfield, Emily J.; Donoghue, Philip C. J.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0194

Cited by 127 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(86 reference statements)

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“…Specimens are deposited in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS-166378 to NIGPAS-166381) and Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden (SMNH X 4403-4416; NRM-PZ X 6771 to NRM-PZ X 6775). Following best practise for digital morphology (Davies et al, 2017), our tomographic datasets and models are available from http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5523/bris.2v3sw3xjkaum724prs1ziow4u0. We follow Yin et al (2004) and Cunningham et al (2017) in considering Megasphaera and Parapandorina as junior synonyms of Tianzhushania.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclei and nucleoli in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Biota

Yin

Cunningham

Vargas

et al. 2017

Precambrian Research

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms A R T I C L E I N F OKeywords: Fossil embryo Doushantuo Animal Evolution Ediacaran A B S T R A C TThe embryo-like microfossils from the Ediacaran Weng'an Biota (ca. 609 million years old) are among the oldest plausible claims of animals in the fossil record. Fossilization frequently extends beyond the cellular, to preserve subcellular structures including contentious Large Intracellular Structures (LISs) that have been alternately interpreted as eukaryote nuclei or organelles, degraded remains, or abiological structures. Here we present new data on the structure, morphology, and development of the LISs in these embryo-like fossils, based on Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Tomographic Microscopy (SRXTM) and quantitative computed tomographic analysis. All the lines of evidence, including consistency in the number, shape, position, and relative size (LIS-tocytoplasm ratio) of the LISs, as well as their occurrence within preserved cytoplasm, support their interpretation as cell nuclei. Our results allow us to reject the view that nuclei cannot be preserved in early eukaryote fossils, offering new potential for interpreting the fossil record of early eukaryote evolution.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclei and nucleoli in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Biota

Yin

Cunningham

Vargas

et al. 2017

Precambrian Research

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“…Most comparative FEA studies include a single specimen per species (Dumont, Davis, Grosse, & Burrows, ; Marcé‐Nogué et al, ; Wroe et al, ) due to the time‐consuming process associated with model construction and simulation. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that the increasing availability in 3D models and access to FEA software would probably allow the generation of numerous models in a reasonably inexpensive way in the following years, which would certainly help in comparative studies (Cunningham, Rahman, Lautenschlager, Rayfield, & Donoghue, ; Davies et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the sclerocarpy adaptations of the Pitheciidae mandible

Püschel¹,

Marcé‐Nogué

Kaiser

et al. 2018

American J Primatol

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Primates are interpreted to be ancestrally adapted to frugivory, although some modern groups show clear adaptations to other diets. Among them, pitheciids stand out for specifically predating seeds. This dietary specialization is known as sclerocarpy and refers to the extraction of seeds from surrounding hard tissues using the anterior dentition followed by the mastication of seeds by the molars. It has been proposed that Callicebus-Pithecia-Chiropotes-Cacajao represent a morphocline of increasingly specialized anatomical traits for sclerocarpic foraging. This study addresses whether there is a sclerocarpic specialization gradient in the mandibular morphology of pitheciids. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to simulate two biting scenarios and the obtained stress values were compared between different pitheciids. Geometric morphometrics (GM) were used to display the morphological variation of this group. No support was found for the morphocline hypothesis from a biomechanical viewpoint since all pitheciins showed similar stress values and on average Chiropotes rather than Cacajao exhibited the strongest mandible. From a morphological perspective, it was found that there is indeed relative "robusticity" continuum in the pitheciid mandible for some aspects of shape as expected for the morphocline hypothesis, but this gradient could be related to other factors rather than sclerocarpic specialization. The present results are expected to contribute to a better insight regarding the ecomorphological relationship between mandibular morphology and mechanical performance among pitheciids.

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“…In the meantime, researchers should ensure that this information is reported in the methods sections of all relevant publications (Davies et al . ).…”

Section: Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Computational fluid dynamics as a tool for testing functional and ecological hypotheses in fossil taxa

Rahman

2017

Palaeontology

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Computational fluid dynamics is a method for simulating fluid flows that has been widely used in engineering for decades, and which also has applications for studying function and ecology in fossil taxa. However, despite the possible benefits of this approach, computational fluid dynamics has been used only rarely in palaeontology to date. The theoretical basis underlying the technique is outlined and the main steps involved in carrying out computer simulations of fluid flows are detailed. I also describe previous studies that have applied the method to fossils and discuss their potential for informing future research directions in palaeontology. Computational fluid dynamics can enable large-scale comparative analyses, as well as exacting tests of hypotheses related to the function and ecology of ancient organisms. In this way, it could transform our understanding of many extinct fossil groups.

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Open data and digital morphology

Cited by 127 publications

References 49 publications

Nuclei and nucleoli in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Biota

Nuclei and nucleoli in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Biota

Analyzing the sclerocarpy adaptations of the Pitheciidae mandible

Computational fluid dynamics as a tool for testing functional and ecological hypotheses in fossil taxa

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