Reconstructing the Paleocommunity from the Fossil Assem-    blage:  Comparative Analysis of Taphonomy and Time Averagingin Modern Death Assemblages of the Marine Environment
{'Code': '06030101', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'GEO', 'LongName': 'Directorate For Geosciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'EAR', 'LongName': 'Division Of Earth Sciences'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'John A. Maccini', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
A major impediment in the interpretation of the fossil record has               been the inadequate understanding of the biases in it caused (1)                by the taphonomic alteration of the original assemblage of living               organisms and (2) by the mixing or time averaging of temporally                 distinct faunas.  The objective of this project is to improve our               understanding of these biases by a comparative study of taphonomy               and time averaging among the major environments of deposition                   found in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters.  Over the past 6               years, selected communities in Texas bays and the Texas                         continental shelf were sampled and analyzed using the best                      techniques available to both zoologists (for the living community)              and paleontologists (for the death assemblage).  Parameters                     investigated included taxonomic composition, trophic structure,                 diversity, population dynamics, biomass and the influence of                    physical disturbance phenomena and biological interactions in                   determining community structure for both the living community and               the death assemblage.  Processes studied included taphonomic                    modification and loss of shell material, local transportation of                shell material, and time averaging.  A good working model of how                these processes affect the formation of the death assemblage from               the living community and the use of the parameters listed above                 during paleoecological reconstruction has been developed for the                Texas coastal zone and extended out onto the shelf and upper                    slope.  A detailed taphofacies analysis has been conducted in a                 suite of major environments of deposition in these same areas.  We              will extend this analysis in depth by including, for the first                  time, a detailed comparative analysis of time averaging.  We                    propose to extend this analysis in scope by broadening the study                to include additional EOD's within the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent              waters.  In this way, we can investigate how fossil assemblages                 form in the marine environment and determine how broadly                        applicable the model developed for death assemblages in Texas bays              and the Texas shelf is to a much larger fraction of the fossil                  record.
[{'FirstName': 'Eric', 'LastName': 'Powell', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'N', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Eric N Powell', 'EmailAddress': 'eric@hsrl.rutgers.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000250600', 'StartDate': '01/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Robert', 'LastName': 'Stanton', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'J', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Robert J Stanton', 'EmailAddress': None, 'NSF_ID': '000452081', 'StartDate': '01/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}]
{'Name': 'Texas A&M Research Foundation', 'CityName': 'COLLEGE STATION', 'ZipCode': '778454375', 'PhoneNumber': '9798626777', 'StreetAddress': '400 HARVEY MITCHELL PKWY S STE 3', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Texas', 'StateCode': 'TX', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '10', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'TX10', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'EQH8NQ4AXFT7', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'TEXAS A & M RESEARCH FOUNDATION', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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[{'Code': '155100', 'Text': 'STRATIGRAPHY & PALEONTOLOGY'}, {'Code': '157100', 'Text': 'SCEC'}]
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8803663.xml'}