CAREER: Reconstructing ancient ocean ecosystems: ecological consequences of ammonoid shell shape.

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

This project applies new technologies to discover how a critical group of ancient animals moved through water. During the age of dinosaurs, squid-like animals called ammonites filled the seas, aided – or hindered – by buoyant shells. Project results will show which shell shape attributes increased the speed, maneuverability, and stability of underwater propulsion. This new knowledge will transform reconstructions of ancient ocean ecosystems, and lead to greater understanding of life’s responses to global mass extinctions. Early-career and student researchers at the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College will gain vital skills for wide-ranging career fields in growing economic sectors, including through development of augmented-reality experiences for the public. Beyond paleo-sciences, results will provide critical data on shape, size, and speed for the design of autonomous and propelled instruments ranging in size from a pea to a tractor tire. This project will weigh the ecological consequences of ammonoid shell shape by measuring hydrodynamic and hydrostatic physics that act on model shells. Models will treat both generalized shell shapes representative of worldwide ammonoid populations through time, and a targeted group of fossil species that proliferated after global mass extinctions. Shell models rely on algorithms for idealized shell shapes, and scanning techniques to replicate and alter real fossil specimens. Each shell will enter computer simulations to measure hydrodynamics – drag, lift, turbidity, etc. – and will be 3D printed for water tank experiments that measure hydrostatics – buoyancy, stability, gas exchange, etc. Taken together, the results will offer the most comprehensive picture to date of the capabilities, limitations, and advantages that likely shaped ammonoid ecological dynamics during their 300-million-year reign at sea. Reconstructions of their ecosystems, both in general and from specific post-extinction recovery phases, will provide an unprecedented look at life’s response to environmental change, and a critical baseline for evaluation of today’s extinction-fueled rise of their living relatives. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.