Life Traces of the Georgia Coast

Anthony J. Martin

Description

Learning about shore animals from the traces they leave behind

Connect with Anthony J. Martin: Website Twitter Related links: Book trailer Excerpt from Chapter 1: Introduction to Ichnology of the Georgia Coast

Have you ever wondered what left behind those prints and tracks on the seashore, or what made those marks or dug those holes in the dunes? Life Traces of the Georgia Coast is an up-close look at these traces of life and the animals and plants that made them. It tells about how the tracemakers lived and how they interacted with their environments. This is a book about ichnology (the study of such traces) and a wonderful way to learn about the behavior of organisms, living and long extinct. Life Traces presents an overview of the traces left by modern animals and plants in this biologically rich region; shows how life traces relate to the environments, natural history, and behaviors of their tracemakers; and applies that knowledge toward a better understanding of the fossilized traces that ancient life left in the geologic record. Augmented by illustrations of traces made by both ancient and modern organisms, the book shows how ancient trace fossils directly relate to modern traces and tracemakers, among them, insects, grasses, crabs, shorebirds, alligators, and sea turtles. The result is an aesthetically appealing and scientifically grounded book that will serve as source both for scientists and for anyone interested in the natural history of the Georgia coast.

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction to Ichnology of the Georgia Coast
2. History of the Georgia Coast and Its Ichnology
3. Tracemaker Habitats and Substrates
4. Marginal-Marine and Terrestrial Plants
5. Terrestrial Invertebrates
6. Marginal-Marine Invertebrates
7. Terrestrial Vertebrates, Part I: Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles
8. Terrestrial Vertebrates, Part II: Birds and Mammals
9. Marginal-Marine and Marine Vertebrates
10. Trace Fossils and the Georgia Coast
11. Future Studies, Future Traces
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Sciences de la nature
• Biologie
• Natural History
• Life Sciences
• Sciences et techniques
• Biology
• Paleontology
• Evolution
• 454 Life Sciences
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 14 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253006097
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 25 Mo

Extrait

LIFE T RAC E S O F TH E
GEORGIA COASTLife of the Past James O. Farlow, editor LIFE T RACES O F TH E
GEORGIA COAST
REVEALING THE UNSEEN LIVES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Anthony J. MartinLife of the Past James O. Farlow, editor LIFE T RACES O F TH E
GEORGIA COAST
REVEALING THE UNSEEN LIVES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Anthony J. Martin
Bloomington & IndianapolisTis book is a publication of Te paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Indiana University Press
Information Sciences—Permanence 601 North Morton Street
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
ANSI Z39.48-1992.
iupress.indiana.edu
Manufactured in the
United States of AmericaTelephoneorders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Cataloging information is available
from the Library of Congress© 2013 by Anthony J. Martin
1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the
publisher. Te Association of American
University Presses’ Resolution on
Permissions constitutes the only
Frontispiece: Alan Campbellexception to this prohibition.to my wife
Ruth schowalter,
who wholeheartedly embraced my writing this book,
a trace of both you and me.This page intentionally left blank Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction to Ichnology of the Georg1ia Coast
2 History of the Georgia Coast and Its Ich2n7ology
3 Tracemaker Habitats and Subst83rates
4 Marginal-Marine and Terrestrial P127lants
5 Terrestrial Inverte b16ra9 tes
6 Marginal-Marine Inverteb r2a45tes
7 Terrestrial Vertebrates, Part I: Fish, Amphibians, R331 eptiles
8 Terrestrial Vertebrates, Part II: Birds and M 3a71mmals
9 Marginal-Marine and Marine Verteb43r5ates
10 Trace Fossils and the Georgia C 503oast
11 Future Studies, Future Tr 5ac69 es
A ppendix 599
Bibliogr aphy 605
Index 647This page intentionally left blank Preface & Acknowledgments
What if we all woke up tomorrow and discovered that
each fossil shell, bone, impression, or other bodily remains of former life
from the geologic past had inexplicably vanished overnight from every
museum and every layer of rock? How would we know what life-forms
existed before us? How did these plants and animals behave, and how did
their behaviors compare to those of modern plants and animals? How did
they evolve as their environments and relationships to other organisms
changed through time? Did their behaviors also afect other organisms or
change their environments, like some modern species?
Fortunately, mass disappearances of body fossils are not l -ikely to hap
pen tomorrow or any other time in the future, so we can rest easy about this
imagined scenario. Nonetheless, it is satisfying to know tha-t our knowl
edge about the history of life is based not just on shells and bones, but
augmented handily by trace fossils. Trace fossils include tracks, burrows,
nests, scrapings, tooth marks, feces, and other products of plant and animal
behavior of the geologic past; the study of modern and fossil traces is called
ichnology. Of course, no one actually witnessed any of the behaviors that
formed trace fossils, and the vast majority of the plants and animals that
made them are extinct. How, then, do we interpret trace fos-sils? Answer
ing that question is the main goal of this book, giving readers a foundation
of knowledge to beter diagnose trace fossils, or at least appreciate how
ichnologists practice their craf.
What may seem paradoxical, though, is that this book deals with a rather
small part of the world—the Georgia barrier islands, in the southeastern
United States—and focuses on a thin slice of time—the present. How
does this seemingly narrow window of space and time relate to trace fossils
ixx Pr eface and Acknowledgments
studied worldwide, and preserved in rocks representing the pa- st 550 mil
lion years? Well, for one, the Georgia coast has been serving as a natural
laboratory for the study of modern traces since the 1960s and is recognized
worldwide as a special place through this legacy. Moreover, the people who
studied these modern traces compared them directly to trace fossils that
look very much like the ones from Georgia. Adding to this hi-storical con
text are the barrier islands themselves, which, unlike many barrier-island
systems elsewhere, have been only partially developed or not at all. For
example, nearly 40 percent of the acreage of salt marshes in the eastern
United States is represented on the Georgia coast, and 11 of the islands are
either privately owned or under governmental protection. Consequently,
most islands have a wide range of ecosystems—maritime for-ests, fresh
water ponds, salt marshes, coastal dunes, and beaches—containing a huge
variety of plants and animals native to the temperate-subtropical climate
of coastal Georgia. Even beter, some of the Georgia barrier islands and
nearby mainland also have trace fossils from the relativel-y recent Pleis
tocene Epoch, most of which are less than 50,000 years old. Tese trace
fossils shorten the gap between the past and present, thus easing direct
comparisons between the still-living tracemakers and their de- funct coun
terparts. In short, going into the feld on the Georgia coas-t and observ
ing traces of modern plants and animals there can provide the right tools
for interpreting the behaviors and environments of the ancient past from
nearly anywhere and anytime.
A broader intention of this book is to introduce readers to the principle
of uniformitarianism, a scientifc worldview that is both afr-ming and en
lightening. Geology has long operated as a science through un- iformitarian
ism, also known by its less polysyllabic synonym, actualism. Tis principle
states that the chemical, physical, and biological processes of today provide
insights on what happened during the prehuman history of the earth. Tis
is ofen neatly summarized by the phrase “Te present is the key to the
past.” Occasionally in ichnology, though, we can reverse this to instead say
“Te past is the key to the present,” as trace fossils sometimes pose puzzles
about what organisms might have produced them. Tese mysteries then
prompt ichnologists to go into the feld to fnd modern analogues. In other
words, traces made by organisms today show us ways to beter understand
similar traces preserved in the fossil record, whether we use them to look
forward or backward in time. Hence this book encourages all who read Pr eface and Acknowledgments xi
it, whether they are geologists, paleontologists, ecologists, biologists, or
natural history enthusiasts, to remind themselves that what we see now
afects how we perceive the past.
Another theme running throughout the book, and one I will ask the
gentle reader to keep in mind, is the importance of careful observations
of traces in the feld. Such methods have been and will continue to be an
integral part of our unraveling of the history of life. A partner to this motif
is how good storytelling is an essential part of science, and ichnology is
one of the best sciences for producing evocative stories. (Yes, I am biased
about this, but still.) One does not even have to travel to the Georgia coast
to appreciate the ichnology of that place, as the life traces of plants and
animals beckon our atention everywhere, even in urban environments.
So although this book presents a systematic approach in its t-opics—intro
duction to ichnology, geologic history and ecology of the Georgia barrier
islands, tracemakers and their traces, and applications of this knowledge
to trace fossils—every chapter begins with a story set in the feld, and how
observations made in this seting contributed to discoveries, w- hether per
sonal or more universal.
Tis book was also writen at a time when the methods and ro- les of sci
ence were either being misunderstood or misrepresented, especially with
regard to the efects of global climate change. Hence exampl-es of observa
tion-based science, using traces of wild plants and uncaged animals in the
context of their environments, can serve as excellent reality checks and test
our preconceived perceptions about how plants or animals behave. Also,
at the time of this writing, concerns were being raised abou- t how an in
creasing number of people—especially those of younger generations—are
spending more time inside, whether bound by technology or an irrational
fear of the outdoors. Te message of this book says, go outside, notice the
clues lef by all of the life surrounding us, and fall in love with what is there
for us to discover and ponder, all while using only our highly evolved senses
and cognition. My parents, Veronica and Richard, encouraged me as a child
to go outside to learn, but also to visit the public library in my hometown of
Terre Haute, Indiana, as much as possible. It is possible to do both types of
learning—outward and inward—and I appreciate my parents for teaching
me this at an early age.
With indebtedness in mind, I must acknowledge those who helped this
book to begin, emerge, take form, and come to fruition. James F - arlow, edixii Pr eface and Acknowledgments
tor of the Life of the Past series at Indiana University Press, good-naturedly
badgered me for three consecutive years about writing a book like this.
Once I succumbed to his encouragement and submited a book proposal,
I was pleasantly surprised to have it accepted. (Although I think he got
more than he bargained for with this fnal version.) He, along with editor
Robert Sloan, gave thorough and fair reviews of the manuscrip- t, and gener
ously advised me during its journey to completion. Sarah Wyat Swanson,
editorial assistant at the press, was also remarkabl