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Sepkoski
Joseph John Sepkoski Jr. (July 26, 1948 – May 1, 1999) was a University of Chicago paleontologist. Sepkoski studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Sepkoski and David Raup contributed to the knowledge of extinction events. They suggested that the extinction of dinosaurs 66 mya was part of a cycle of mass extinctions that may have occurred every 26 million years. Life and work Sepkoski was born in Presque Isle, Maine. In 1970, Sepkoski received a B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame. Under Stephen Jay Gould he earned a Ph.D. in geological sciences from Harvard University in 1977. His Ph.D. was on the field geology and paleontology of the Black Hills of South Dakota. From 1974 to 1978, Sepkoski taught at the University of Rochester. In 1978 he joined the University of Chicago and became a professor in 1986. Sepkoski was also a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He died of heart failur ...
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Extinction Event
An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. It occurs when the rate of extinction increases with respect to the background extinction rate and the rate of speciation. Estimates of the number of major mass extinctions in the last 540 million years range from as few as five to more than twenty. These differences stem from disagreement as to what constitutes a "major" extinction event, and the data chosen to measure past diversity. The "Big Five" mass extinctions In a landmark paper published in 1982, Jack Sepkoski and David M. Raup identified five particular geological intervals with excessive diversity loss. They were originally identified as outliers on a general trend of decreasing extinction rates during the Phanerozoic, but as more stringent statistical tests have been applied ...
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David Sepkoski
David Sepkoski (born January 27, 1972) is an American science historian and college professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Background and career Sepkoski was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to paleontologist Jack Sepkoski. His stepmother is the paleomammologist Christine Janis. He received his BA from Carleton College, his MA from the University of Chicago, and his doctoral degree in science history from the University of Minnesota. His publications include three books, most recently ''Catastrophic Thinking'', which deals with mass extinction events. Awards and honors * 2018 - Thomas M. Siebel endowed Chair of History * 2020 - Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ... References 1972 births Living people Americ ...
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Evolutionary Fauna
The concept of the three great evolutionary faunas of marine animals from the Cambrian to the present (that is, the entire Phanerozoic) was introduced by Jack Sepkoski in 1981 using factor analysis of the fossil record. An evolutionary fauna typically displays an increase in biodiversity following a logistic curve followed by extinctions (although the Modern Fauna has not yet exhibited the diminishing part of the curve). Cambrian fauna Fauna I, known as "Cambrian", described as a "Trilobite-rich assemblage", encompasses the bulk of the fossils which first appeared in the Cambrian explosion, and largely became extinct in the Ordovician-Silurian extinction event. This fauna comprises trilobites, small shelly fossils (grouped by Sepkoski into "Polychaeta", but including cribricyathids, coleolids, and volborthellids), Monoplacophora, inarticulate brachiopods and hyoliths. Paleozoic fauna Fauna II, known as "Paleozoic", described as a "Brachiopod-rich assemblage", accounts for mos ...
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David Raup
David M. Raup (April 24, 1933 – July 9, 2015) was a University of Chicago paleontologist. Raup studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Raup contributed to the knowledge of extinction events along with his colleague Jack Sepkoski. They suggested that the extinction of dinosaurs 66 mya was part of a cycle of mass extinctions that may have occurred every 26 million years. Biography Early life Born on April 24, 1933, and raised in Boston, Raup's interest in the fossil record did not begin at a young age, having had very little contact with such things until later in life. He focused instead on leisure activities such as skiing and camping. His first mentor was John Clark, a vertebrate paleontologist and sedimentologist at the University of Chicago while starting his education. Career Raup began his academic career at Colby College in Maine before transferring two years later to the University of Chicago where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree. From th ...
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Extinction Of Dinosaurs
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, ma ...
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Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In 1996, Gould was hired as the Vincent Astor Visiting Research Professor of Biology at New York University, after which he divided his time teaching between there and Harvard. Gould's most significant contribution to evolutionary biology was the theory of punctuated equilibrium developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972.Eldredge, Niles, and S. J. Gould (1972)"Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism."In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., ''Models in Paleobiology''. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper and Company, pp. 82–115. The theory proposes that most evolution is characterized by long periods of evolutionary stability, ...
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Charles Schuchert Award
The Charles Schuchert Award is presented by the Paleontological Society to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology. The award was made in honor of Charles Schuchert (1858 – 1942), an American invertebrate paleontologist. Awardees SourcePaleontological Society*2021: Melanie Hopkins *2020: Lee Hsiang Liow *2019: Jingmai O'Connor *2018: Seth Finnegan *2017: Caroline Strömberg *2016: Alycia Stigall *2015: Jonathan Payne *2014: Shanan Peters *2013: Bridget Wade *2012: Gene Hunt *2011: C. Kevin Boyce *2010: Philip Donoghue *2009: Tom Olszewski *2008: Michael Engel *2007: John Alroy *2006: Shuhai Xiao *2005: Michal Kowalewski *2004: Peter J. Wagner *2003: Steven M. Holland *2002: Bruce S. Lieberman *2001: Loren E. Babcock *2000: Michael J. Foote *1999: Charles R. Marshall *1998: Paul L. Koch *1997: Mary L. Droser *1996: Douglas H. Erwin *1995: Susan M. Kidwell *1994: Christopher G. Maples *1993: Peter R. Cran ...
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Christine Janis
Christine Marie Janis is a British palaeontologist who specialises in mammals. She is currently based at the University of Bristol. Background Janis earned a bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences and Zoology from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Vertebrate Paleontology from Harvard University. She has held positions as a researcher and lecturer at Oregon State University, Cambridge, the Field Museum of Natural History in the University of Chicago, the University of Bristol, and Brown University. In 1985 Janis was awarded the George Gaylord Simpson Prize for Paleontology (Yale University, USA) and was elected Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2007. Janis attributes her interest in palaeontology to seeing ''Fantasia'' as a child. She was married to fellow palaeontologist Jack Sepkoski Joseph John Sepkoski Jr. (July 26, 1948 – May 1, 1999) was a University of Chicago paleontologist. Sepkoski studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Sepkoski ...
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Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,797 at the 2020 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport. Presque Isle is the headquarters of the Aroostook Band of Micmac, a federally recognized tribe. History The first European settlers were British Loyalists who reached the area in 1819 hoping to obtain land for lumber. Border disputes between the United States and the United Kingdom over the area, however, made it impossible for pioneers to gain title to the land. In response, the government of the neighboring British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadian province) gave out patents for pioneers to live on the land but not claim ownership or sell it. By 1825, surveyors traveling along the Aroostook River noted tha ...
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Paleobiology (journal)
Paleobiology is a scientific journal promoting the integration of biology and conventional paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ..., with emphasis placed on biological or paleobiological processes and patterns. It attracts papers of interest to more than one discipline, and occasionally publishes research on recent organisms when this is of interest to paleontologists. Paleontology journals Academic journals published by learned and professional societies Publications established in 1975 Quarterly journals English-language journals Paleobiology Cambridge University Press academic journals {{paleontology-journal-stub ...
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Paleontological Society
The Paleontological Society, formerly the Paleontological Society of America, is an international organisation devoted to the promotion of paleontology. The Society was founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was incorporated in April 1968 in the District of Columbia. The Society publishes the bi-monthly ''Journal of Paleontology'' and the quarterly ''Paleobiology'', holds an annual meeting in the autumn in conjunction with the Geological Society of America, sponsors conferences and lectures, and provides grants and scholarships. The Society has five geographic sections—Pacific Coast (founded March 1911), North-Central (founded May 1974), Northeastern (founded March 1977), Southeastern (founded November 1979), Rocky Mountain (founded October 1985), and South-Central (founded November 1988). Medals and awards The Society recognizes distinguished accomplishments through three awards, one recognized by a medal, the other two by inscribed plaques normally presented annually: *T ...
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Polish Academy Of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars and a network of research institutes. It was established in 1951, during the early period of the Polish People's Republic following World War II. History The Polish Academy of Sciences is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning, headquartered in Warsaw, that was established by the merger of earlier science societies, including the Polish Academy of Learning (''Polska Akademia Umiejętności'', abbreviated ''PAU''), with its seat in Kraków, and the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning (Science), which had been founded in the late 18th century. The Polish Academy of Sciences functions as a learned society acting through an elected assembly of leading scholars and research institutions. The Academy h ...
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