PRI sent 11 staff members and three graduate students to the Geological Society of America’s annual national conference in Charlotte in November.  Staff, students, and PRI Trustees presented their research as well as their contribution to new tools and techniques in the field of science education. We debuted a new membership level targeting individuals primarily interested in the science research that occurs at PRI.

Our new Ecphora membership was created as a way to better serve individuals who primarily support PRI’s mission in scientific research and collections. Ecphora members receive exclusive benefits and opportunities to network with like-minded individuals while providing important financial support for PRI’s collections and scientific research programs. Click here to find out more about our new Ecphora membership level. Only $60! (students only $30)

"With these benefits, I expected the membership to be $150!"
—enthusiastic Professor of Geology who signed up at GSA and converted his Individual membership to an Ecphora

Also at the November 2012 meeting:

Dr. Don Duggan-Haas assumed the office of Chair of the Geoscience Education Division. He currently serves as First Vice Chair. GSA’s Geoscience Education Division serves one thousand members and will offer 12 oral and four poster sessions at this year’s meeting, in addition to offering awards for distinguished educators, and travel scholarships for students.

Dr. Richard Kissel assumed the office of Vice Chair of GSA's Committee on Education. He currently and will continue to also serve as the Informal Education representative of the committee.

Dr. Gregory P. Dietl and his committee have issued a new report on Conservation Paleobiology. Click here for more information and a PDF version.

Our Booth, #840

Sunday, Nov 4,  2pm - 6:30pm
Monday, Nov 5, 9am - 6pm
Tuesday, Nov 6, 9am - 6pm
Wednesday, Nov 7, 9am - 2pm

The following is a simple listing of where PRI staff, students, research associates, and Trustess presented. This is not the full citation. For more comprehensive information, please visit the GSA website.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4

8:05am
Loren E. Babcock (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Ballroom B
The Geological Society of America Geologic Time Scale
WALKER, J. Douglas, GEISSMAN, J.W., BOWRING, Samuel A., BABCOCK, Loren E.,


8:30am
Paula M. Mikkelsen
Charlotte Convention Center 210AB
Evolution on the Half Shell: Teaching Evolution Using a Familiar, Accessible Taxon


9:15am
Dana S. Friend (Student), Warren D. Allmon
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
A Sea Without Snails: Why Are Gastropods Less Diverse and Abundant in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway?
FRIEND, Dana S., ALLMON, Warren D., HARRIES, Peter J., MYERS, Corinne, GEARY, Dana H., and MACKENZIE, Richard A.


11:00am
Don Duggan-Haas, Kelly Cronin, Robert M. Ross
Charlotte Convention Center 210AB
Hydraulic Fracturing and the Marcellus Shale: a Case Study for Emergent Energy Issues and for Teaching Controversial Issues


11:10am
H. Allen Curran (Trustee)
Charlotte Convention Center 203A
An Ichnologic Model for Quaternary Carbonate Rocks of the Bahama Archipelago: Implications and Applications


11:25am
Constance M. Soja (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center 203A
Ichnology of Holocene Avian Tracks, Caicos and San Salvador Island, Bahamas Archipelago
WHITE, Brian, SOJA, Constance M.


POSTER SESSIONS

Loren Babcock (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 109
A Diverse High-Latitude Ichnofauna from the Permian Pagoda and Mackellar Formations (Beacon Supergroup), Shackleton Glacier Area, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica
WILDERMUTH, Sarah C., HASIOTIS, Stephen T., ISBELL, John L., MILLER, Molly F., BABCOCK, Loren E.,

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

10:45am
Karl Flessa (Trustee)
Charlotte Convention Center 218AB
Restoring the Connection Between the Colorado River and the Sea: Implications of Sedimentation Rates in a Lower Channel
ZAMORA, Hector A., NELSON, Steven, FLESSA, Karl, NOMURA, Ritsuo


POSTER SESSIONS

Karl Flessa (Trustee)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 35
Do Stable Isotopes Track Environmental Change in Echinoid Plates? A Test Using Modern Echinoids.
DEXTER, Troy A., DETTMAN, David L., FLESSA, Karl W.,


Rodney Feldmann (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 48
Intertwining Fossil and Modern Phylogenies of the Squat Lobsters (Decapoda: Galatheoidea)
ROBINS, Cristina M., FELDMANN, Rodney M., SCHWEITZER, Carrie E.


Jeffrey D. Over (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 171
Trace Elements in the Freshwater Bivalve Lampsilis Cardium from the O'Shaugnessey Reservoir, Columbus, Ohio
EVANS, Scott D., GILLIKIN, David P., GOODWIN, David, WATTERS, G. Thomas, OVER, D. Jeffrey


Patricia H. Kelley (Trustee Emeritus), Kelly E. Hattori, Nicholas O. Moore, Sarah L. Simpson, Anna M. Zappulla, Kristina Ottens, Gregory P. Dietl, Christy C. Visaggi
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 267
Validation of Taxon-Specific Sampling for Studying Drilling Predation on Fossil Bivalves


Samantha D. Stanford, Patricia H. Kelley (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 274
Relationship of Drilling Predation To Molluscan Escalation as Indicated by Anti-Predatory Characteristics in the Choptank and St. Marys Formations, Maryland Miocene


Gregory Dietl
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 275
Repair Scars 101: The Influence of Data Standardization on the Frequency of Unsuccessful Shell-Crushing Predation
DIETL, Gregory, KOSLOSKI, Mary Elizabeth


John Pojeta (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 291
Stirred Not Shaken: Using Taphonomy to Reconstruct Paleoecological Succession and Taphonomic Feedback in a Cincinnatian (Ordovician, Ohio) Storm-Disturbed Shell Bed
FREEMAN, Rebecca L., DATTILO, Benjamin, MORSE, Aaron, BLAIR, Michael, FELTON, Steve, POJETA, John Jr


Jansen A. Smith (Student)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 302
Surface Alteration of Fish and Mammal Bone in the Burial Environment: A Comparative Study
SMITH, Jansen A., ROGERS, Raymond R.

Reception: Friends of PRI

5:30 -6:30pm
Westin Charlotte Tryon North
Warren Allmon and Elizabeth Brando, Presiding

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

8:30am
Gregory Dietl
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Quantifying Adaptive Costs: Stable Isotope Geochemistry and Anti-Predatory Morphologies in Busyconine Whelks
KOSLOSKI, Mary Elizabeth, DIETL, Gregory


9:00am
Judith Nagel-Myers, Gregory Dietl, John Handley (Trustee and Research Associate), C.E. Brett
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Species Redundancy and Faunal Stability in the Fossil Record
NAGEL-MYERS, Judith, DIETL, Gregory, HANDLEY, John C., BRETT, C.E.


9:45am
Patricia H. Kelley (Trustee Emeritus), Gregory P. Dietl
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Spatial Variation in Drilling Predation within a Biogeographic Transition in the Pleistocene Lower Waccamaw Formation of the Carolinas


10:00am
Stephen R. Durham (Student)
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Functional Shell Color Pattern Polymorphism in Puperita pupa


10:15am
Alexis Rojas, Austin J.W. Hendy, Gregory Dietl
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Exploratory Spatial Analyses as an Alternative Approach for Understanding the Mechanisms that Drive the Naticid Drill Hole Distribution


10:30am
Jansen A. Smith (Student)
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
The Effect of Wave Exposure on Crab Predation of Littorinids on San Salvador Island, Bahamas


10:45am
Constance M. Soja (Trustee Emeritus), Brian White
Charlotte Convention Center 208A
The Karheen Formation in SE Alaska: Dismembered “Old Red Sandstone” Facies Links the Alexander Terrane To NW Baltica–Laurentia Caledonides in the Mid-Paleozoic


11:00am
Rodney M. Feldmann(Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center 217BC
Middle Triassic Shrimp from the Luoping Lagerstätte, China: Impact of Taphonomy on Systematics
FELDMANN, Rodney M., SCHWEITZER, Carrie E., HU, Shixue


11:35am
Gregory P. Dietl, Patricia H. Kelley (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Alternate Modes of Naticid Predation: An Experimental Test of the Influence of Substrate Depth on Drilling Behaviors
VISAGGI, Christy C., DIETL, Gregory P., and KELLEY, Patricia H.


3:00pm
Robert M. Ross, Richard C. Stedman, Kelly E. Cronin, Beth Stricker, Carlyn Buckler, Trisha A. Smrecak, Sarah J. Chicone
Charlotte Convention Center 210AB
Rural Landowner Perceptions of Climate Change and Implications for Public Outreach


3:05pm
Dana S. Friend (Student)
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Exploration of Potentially Preserved and Transported Rocky Intertidal Communities


4:30pm
Rodney M. Feldmann(Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center 217BC
Comprehensive Sampling and Integrative Approaches to Reconstruct the Evolutionary History of a Morphologically and Ecologically Diverse Group of Decapods (Anomura)
BRACKEN-GRISSOM, Heather, FELDMANN, Rodney M., SCHWEITZER, Carrie E., AHYONG, Shane, FELDER, Darryl, CRANDALL, Keith


4:45pm
Kelly E. Cronin, Beth Stricker, Richard A. Kissel, Robert M. Ross and Cassie Mundt
Charlotte Convention Center 209AB
Ice, Cold, Animals: What Museum Visitors Think About Glaciers


4:45pm
Rodney M. Feldmann (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center 217BC
New Phylogeny of Lobsters (Crustacea: Decapoda) Including Extant and Extinct Genera Suggests Distinct Patterns in Diversity and Evolution
SCHWEITZER, Carrie E., FELDMANN, Rodney M., KARASAWA, Hiroaki


5:00pm
John C. Handley (Trustee and Research Associate)
Charlotte Convention Center 217A
Model Ranking Method for Biostratigraphic Core Alignment
HANDLEY, John C., ROFF, George, PANDOLFI, John M.


POSTER SESSIONS

Rodney M. Feldman (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 97
The Role of Reefs in Mesozoic Decapod Evolution
KLOMPMAKER, Adiël A., FELDMANN, Rodney M., SCHWEITZER, Carrie E.


Rodney M. Feldman (Trustee Emeritus)
Charlotte Convention Center Hall B, booth 98
Diversity Differences of Eocene Decapod Crustaceans Between Atlantic and Gulf Coast, USA and Veneto Region, Italy
FRANTESCU, Adina, FELDMANN, Rodney M., SCHWEITZER, Carrie E.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7

8:15am
Richard A. Kissel, Don Duggan-Haas, Robert M. Ross
Charlotte Convention Center 210AB
The Real Earth Inquiry Project: Introducing Inquiry-Driven Field Exploration to Students Across the Nation


9:45am
Karl Flessa
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
A Really Crappy Talk: Fecal Volume and Body Size in Birds, Mammals, and Dinosaurs
FLESSA, Karl, STRUTHERS, Amber, FALL, Leigh M., DEXTER, Troy A.


10:15am
Richard Waite, Warren D. Allmon, Linda C. Ivany (Trustee President)
Charlotte Convention Center 217A
The Oxygen and Carbon Stable Isotope Record of Modern Turritelline Gastropods: Implications for Biology, Sclerochronology and (Paleo) Environmental Interpretations


1:45pm
Warren D. Allmon
Charlotte Convention Center 217BC
The Fossil Record of Hydrozoan Polyps
MUSCENTE, A.D., ALLMON, Warren D.


3:45pm
David Meyer (Trustee)
Charlotte Convention Center 217D
Development of a Silurian (Wenlock) Blastozoan-Dominated Echinoderm Fauna in the Cincinnati Arch Region: Paleoenvironmental Control Over Faunal Anachronisms
THOMKA, James R., BRETT, Carlton E., AUSICH, William I., SUMRALL, Colin D., MEYER, David L.


4:00pm
Jonathan R. Hendricks (Research Associate)
Charlotte Convention Center 217A
Conus (Cone Snail) Species Diversity in Coral Reef Associated Fossil Assemblages from the Neogene of the Northern Dominican Republic