Sedimentology and taphonomy of the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Dinosaur Provincial Park,Alberta (Canada)

Sediments of the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Oldman Formation at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, have yielded an exceedingly rich fauna of dinosaurs. These fluviatile sediments show characteristics of both meandering and braided channels. Fossil molluscs, plants, and diverse salamanders indicate that Oldman sediments were deposited in fresh water, and the very sparse agglutinated Foraminifera recovered fail to controvert this conclusion. Annual growth rings in wood and vertebrate of Champsosaurus demonstrate that the climate was seasonal, and current botanic interpretations suggest that the climate was an equable, warm temperate one. Dinosaurian remains represent all stages of disarticulation from complete skeletons to isolated bones. They are common in channel sediments and rare in overbank deposits, suggesting that the animals preserved died in the water of channels. The persistence of the characteristics sedimentary association of fossils over a 200 ft. stratigraphic interval demonstrates that regular, not catastrophic events determined the preservation of individuals. Stages of progressive decomposition of dinosaurs are inferred from the condition of fossils collected from the Park. Disarticulated small bones occur at interfaces between mudstone and sandstone in which the sandstone lies above the mudstone, and also in intraformational conglomerates. Ceratopsians are identified as dwellers of the swampy lowlands along with hadrosaurs. Hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and possibly even carnosaurs spent significant portions of their daily lives in water. These dinosaurs did not breed in “uplands”, but possibly in dry areas lateral to the streams.     

Skull Ecomorphology of Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian) of Alberta,Canada

Megaherbivorous dinosaur coexistence on the Late Cretaceous island continent of Laramidia has long puzzled researchers, owing to the mystery of how so many large herbivores (6–8 sympatric species, in many instances) could coexist on such a small (4–7 million km²) landmass. Various explanations have been put forth, one of which–dietary niche partitioning–forms the focus of this study. Here, we apply traditional morphometric methods to the skulls of megaherbivorous dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta to infer the ecomorphology of these animals and to test the niche partitioning hypothesis. We find evidence for niche partitioning not only among contemporaneous ankylosaurs, ceratopsids, and hadrosaurids, but also within these clades at the family and subfamily levels. Consubfamilial ceratopsids and hadrosaurids differ insignificantly in their inferred ecomorphologies, which may explain why they rarely overlap stratigraphically: interspecific competition prevented their coexistence.     

Movement Patterns and Home Range Of The Bongo (Tragelaphus Eurycerus) In The Rain Forest Of The Dzanga National Park, Central African Republic

Bongos ( Tragelaphus eurycerus Ogilby) were studied for 8 months in the Dzanga National Park, Central African Republic. Tracks were followed and mapped with a compass and a pedometer to study movement patterns and home range. Natural licks were shown to be central points in the home range of the bongos: they visited the licks recurrently to consume soil, but also to forage on grass and herb species, and for social reasons. Forest areas far from licks were used much less than forest areas close to licks. When a lick was visited, distances between two resting sites were longer than in the forest without lick visits, caused by a direct and straight movement from the denser forest areas toward a lick. The study area of about 150 km² was presumably occupied by two groups of bongos. One of them seemed to split temporarily into two subgroups. Groups were not larger than 10–20 individuals. Estimated home ranges were at least 49 km² and 19 km² for the two groups, respectively. Estimated density in the Dzanga National Park was 0.25 bongos per km^2. This study shows the importance of natural licks for the largest social forest antelope, the bongo, and provides information which is important for its future conservation.     

Clearing, Cuticle Removal, And Staining For The Fertile Bracts (Lemmas And Paleas) Of Grass Anthoecia

The epidermis of the bracts enclosing the flower of grasses contains epidermal cell patterns which are indicative of phylogenetic and systematic relationships among taxa. Treating the heavily cutinized anthoecial bracts (fertile lemma and palea) with 10% NaOH results in the removal of sufficient cuticle to allow examination of the cells of the epidermis. After clearing and removal of the cuticle, the bracts are bleached, washed, dehydrated, and if studied by light microscopy, stained in 2 % chlorazol black E and mounted in Diaphane; or, if studied by scanning electron microscopy, dried by the critical-point method and either left uncoated or coated with a film of various conductive metals.     

The Botany,History And Traditional Uses Of Three-Lobed Sage (Salvia Fruticosa Miller) (Labiatae)

Three-lobed sage is here claimed as being, most likely, a part in the sage of the ancient and medieval texts not a mere substitute for S. officinalis. The traditional uses recently discovered in Spain and Madeira are here published for the first time and compared with the data available from the Eastern Mediterranean region.     

An Analaysis Of Obsidian Debit Age And Protohistoric Exchange Systems In The Southern Plains As Viewed From The Edwards I Site (34BK2)

Abstract

Obsidian is the third most abundant lithic material in the protohistoric assemblage from the Edwards I (34Bk2)site in southwest Oklahoma. Chemical analysis of this material has identified the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico and the San Francisco Mountains in northern Arizona as the primary and secondary sources, respectivel.

These materials as well as various pottery types and other goods were probably obtained through the pueblos o Pecos and Picuris. Because more specific information concerning this protohistoric exchange system may be linke with specific obsidian source localities in the Jemez Mountains, some of the more important elements for charac erizing this source system are presented. Iron (Fe), cerium (Ce), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), yttrium (Y). an possibly rubidium (Rb) may be the most useful for defining specific source localities in this system. Rather the using absolute concentrations to define these localities, we advocate the use of ratios. In addition, future studies of the Jemez Mountains obsidian sources must utilize a regional approach to better characterize the different localities.     

Biophysical indicators based on spatial hierarchy for informing land reclamation: The case of the Lower Athabasca River (Alberta,Canada)

In the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta (Canada), surface mining for bitumen from oil sands creates highly disturbed environments, which need to be restored, after mine closing, to equivalent land capability in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We demonstrate a method to characterize ecosystem diversity and conditions using biophysical indicators of the Lower Athabasca meant for informing land reclamation planning and monitoring by identifying and creating a typology of the main assemblages of topography, soil and forest vegetation at the watershed, landform and ecosite scales, and analysing the relationships among land units of various scales. Our results showed that watersheds could be classified into distinct groups with specific features, even for a region with a generally flat or gently rolling topography, with slope, surficial deposits and aspect as key drivers of differences. Despite the subtle topography, the moisture regime, which is linked to large-scale cycles that are dependent on the surrounding matrix, was of primary importance for driving vegetation assemblages. There was no unique and homogeneous association between topography and vegetation; the specific landforms each displayed a range of ecosites, and the same ecosites were found in different landforms. This suggests that landscapes cannot be defined in a qualitative manner but rather with quantitative indicators that express the proportion occupied by each class of ecological units within the coarser units, therefore requiring during land reclamation that sufficient care is given to create heterogeneity within a given landform in terms of soil texture and drainage so that a mosaic of ecosite conditions is created.