Alycia Stigall | |
|---|---|
 Stigall in 2019 | |
| Born | |
| Spouse(s) | Daniel Hembree (m. 2006) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | B.S., Biology and Geological Sciences, 1999, Ohio State University M.S., 2001, PhD, 2004, University of Kansas |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Ohio University |
Alycia L. Stigall is an American palaeontologist. As a professor at Ohio University,she was the first to analyze the biogeographic ranges of Paleozoic fossils using Geographic information systems.
Stigall was born and raised in Colerain Township,Hamilton County,Ohio to parents Jackie and Joe Stigall. [1] Growing up,she spent time collecting brachiopods and bryozoans from a nearby creek and went camping in various National Parks across the country. [2] Stigall attended Colerain High School where she was a National Merit Finalist and member of the National Honor Society,Marching Band,Collage,Show Choir,and German Club. Prior to graduating,she earned a full academic scholarship to Ohio State University. [3]
Upon earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University in 1995,she was named the top science graduate in the country and received the only Grinnell Fellowship at the University of Kansas. Similarly,she also earned a science foundation grant for $15,000 per year for the next four years for graduate-level studies. [1]
Upon receiving her PhD,Stigall joined the faculty at Ohio University as an associate professor of geological sciences. In this role,she published a study suggesting that the planet's current ecosystem,which is struggling with biodiversity loss,could lead to a similar collapse of Earth's marine as happened 378 to 375 million years ago. [4] This led her to become the first to analyze the biogeographic ranges of Paleozoic fossils using Geographic information systems. [5] She also published an article in Palaeontology arguing for a broader evolutionary theory that accounts for large-scale environmental changes such as plate tectonics,sea level changes and climate change over periods measured by tens of thousands of years. [6]
Stigall was inspired by the book,A Golden Guide to Fossils, which she read in her youth,to develop an updated,comprehensive online database titled the Digital Atlas of Ordovician Life. [7] She also co-developed an online free app called "Digital Atlas of Ancient Life" which aimed to be a tool for "exploring and identifying marine fossils from three different regions and time periods." [8] In 2016,Stigall was the recipient of the Charles Schuchert Award from the Paleontological Society given in recognition of a paleontologist under the age of 40. She was recognized for her "contributions to the understanding of the impact of species invasion on species and ecosystems within shallow marine communities during the Ordovician Period and the Late Devonian Mass Extinction." [9] She was also acknowledged by the Association for Women Geoscientists with their Professional Excellence Award in the academia and research category. [10]
As a Full professor,Stigall and her research team,consisting of Nancy Stevens and Y. Ranjeev Epa,analyzed snail fossils from 24 to 26 million years ago and identified six new species. Their study provided the first documentation of rapid evolutionary diversification in freshwater invertebrates associated with the development of rifting in the East African Rift Zone. [11] She similarly found that The Great Biodiversification Event,in which new species developed rapidly,actually occurred during the Darriwilian Stage about 465 million years ago. [12]
In 2020,Stigall collaborated with an international team to co-publish The Devonian-Cretaceous fossil record of ‘conchostracans’of Africa and their paleobiogeographic relationships with other Gondwanan faunas in the Journal of African Earth Sciences. The study developed the first comprehensive catalog of the occurrences of fossil clam shrimp for African and the former Gondwanan continents. [13] Prior to the beginning of the 2020–21 academic year,Stigall was appointed Chair for the Department of Geological Sciences. [14]
Stigall married her fiancéDaniel Hembree on December 9,2006. [15]
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system,the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Mya.
Paleontology,also spelled palaeontology or palæontology,is the scientific study of life that existed prior to,and sometimes including,the start of the Holocene epoch. It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments. Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BCE. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy,and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλα,ὄν,and λόγος.
The PaleozoicEra is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras,lasting from 538.8 to 251.902 million years ago,and is subdivided into six geologic periods:the Cambrian,Ordovician,Silurian,Devonian,Carboniferous,and Permian. The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon and is followed by the Mesozoic Era.
Trilobites are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period,and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline,when,during the Devonian,all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals,existing in oceans for almost 270 million years,with over 20,000 species having been described.
Alice Evelyn Wilson, MBE,FRSC,FRCGS was Canada's first female geologist. Her scientific studies of rocks and fossils in the Ottawa region between 1913 and 1963 remain a respected source of knowledge.
Edward Oscar Ulrich was an invertebrate paleontologist specializing in the study of Paleozoic fossils.
Tabulata,commonly known as tabulate corals,are an order of extinct forms of coral. They are almost always colonial,forming colonies of individual hexagonal cells known as corallites defined by a skeleton of calcite,similar in appearance to a honeycomb. Adjacent cells are joined by small pores. Their distinguishing feature is their well-developed horizontal internal partitions (tabulae) within each cell,but reduced or absent vertical internal partitions. They are usually smaller than rugose corals,but vary considerably in shape,from flat to conical to spherical.
Elisabeth S. Vrba is a paleontologist at Yale University who developed the turnover-pulse hypothesis.
Winifred Goldring,was an American paleontologist whose work included a description of stromatolites,as well as the study of Devonian crinoids. She was the first woman in the nation to be appointed as a State Paleontologist.
The evolution of fungi has been going on since fungi diverged from other life around 1.5 billion years ago,with the glomaleans branching from the "higher fungi" at ~570 million years ago,according to DNA analysis. Fungi probably colonized the land during the Cambrian,over 500 million years ago,,and possibly 635 million years ago during the Ediacaran,but terrestrial fossils only become uncontroversial and common during the Devonian,400 million years ago.
Helen Margaret Duncan was a geologist and paleontologist with the United States Geological Survey from 1945 to 1971,where she worked in the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch. Duncan was considered one of the strongest women in the Cincinnati geology department;her contributions to the Lipalian Research Foundation and the Pick and Hammer shows were additional work of her time. Duncan paved the path for many geology scholars to follow with her discoveries on fossil records and her studies in paleontology and stratigraphy.
Paleontology in Ohio refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Ohio. Ohio is well known for having a great quantity and diversity of fossils preserved in its rocks. The state's fossil record begins early in the Paleozoic era,during the Cambrian period. Ohio was generally covered by seawater from that time on through the rest of the early Paleozoic. Local invertebrates included brachiopods,cephalopods,coral,graptolites,and trilobites. Vertebrates included bony fishes and sharks. The first land plants in the state grew during the Devonian. During the Carboniferous,Ohio became a more terrestrial environment with an increased diversity of plants that formed expansive swampy deltas. Amphibians and reptiles began to inhabit the state at this time,and remained present into the ensuing Permian. A gap in the local rock record spans from this point until the start of the Pleistocene. During the Ice Age,Ohio was home to giant beavers,humans,mammoths,and mastodons. Paleo-Indians collected fossils that were later incorporated into their mounds. Ohio has been the birthplace of many world famous paleontologists,like Charles Schuchert. Many significant fossils curated by museums in Europe and the United States were found in Ohio. Major local fossil discoveries include the 1965 discovery of more than 50,000 Devonian fish fossils in Cuyahoga County. The Ordovician trilobite Isotelus maximus is the Ohio state invertebrate fossil.
Paleontology in New York refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of New York. New York has a very rich fossil record,especially from the Devonian. However,a gap in this record spans most of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic.
Paleontology in Minnesota refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Minnesota. The geologic record of Minnesota spans from Precambrian to recent with the exceptions of major gaps including the Silurian period,the interval from the Middle to Upper Devonian to the Cretaceous,and the Cenozoic. During the Precambrian,Minnesota was covered by an ocean where local bacteria ended up forming banded iron formations and stromatolites. During the early part of the Paleozoic era southern Minnesota was covered by a shallow tropical sea that would come to be home to creatures like brachiopods,bryozoans,massive cephalopods,corals,crinoids,graptolites,and trilobites. The sea withdrew from the state during the Silurian,but returned during the Devonian. However,the rest of the Paleozoic is missing from the local rock record. The Triassic is also missing from the local rock record and Jurassic deposits,while present,lack fossils. Another sea entered the state during the Cretaceous period,this one inhabited by creatures like ammonites and sawfish. Duckbilled dinosaurs roamed the land. The Paleogene and Neogene periods of the ensuing Cenozoic era are also missing from the local rock record,but during the Ice Age evidence points to glacial activity in the state. Woolly mammoths,mastodons,and musk oxen inhabited Minnesota at the time. Local Native Americans interpreted such remains as the bones of the water monster Unktehi. They also told myths about thunder birds that may have been based on Ice Age bird fossils. By the early 19th century,the state's fossil had already attracted the attention of formally trained scientists. Early research included the Cretaceous plant discoveries made by Leo Lesquereux.
The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column,leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish lineages belong to the Agnatha,or jawless fish. Early examples include Haikouichthys. During the late Cambrian,eel-like jawless fish called the conodonts,and small mostly armoured fish known as ostracoderms,first appeared. Most jawless fish are now extinct;but the extant lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. Lampreys belong to the Cyclostomata,which includes the extant hagfish,and this group may have split early on from other agnathans.
Madeleine Alberta Fritz was a Canadian palaeontologist. She was a professor at the University of Toronto,where she taught vertebrate studies in the department of Geology. Fritz's writing on the fossil Bryozoa along with her research on the stratigraphy of Toronto and the surrounding areas were major contributions to the geological field.
Margaret Ann Bradshaw is a British-born New Zealand geologist and a retired staff member at the University of Canterbury. She is considered a trailblazer and influential female role model in Antarctic research.
The geology of Ohio formed beginning more than one billion years ago in the Proterozoic eon of the Precambrian. The igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock is poorly understood except through deep boreholes and does not outcrop at the surface. The basement rock is divided between the Grenville Province and Superior Province. When the Grenville Province crust collided with Proto-North America,it launched the Grenville orogeny,a major mountain building event. The Grenville mountains eroded,filling in rift basins and Ohio was flooded and periodically exposed as dry land throughout the Paleozoic. In addition to marine carbonates such as limestone and dolomite,large deposits of shale and sandstone formed as subsequent mountain building events such as the Taconic orogeny and Acadian orogeny led to additional sediment deposition. Ohio transitioned to dryland conditions in the Pennsylvanian,forming large coal swamps and the region has been dryland ever since. Until the Pleistocene glaciations erased these features,the landscape was cut with deep stream valleys,which scoured away hundreds of meters of rock leaving little trace of geologic history in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
Rafinesquina is an extinct genus of large brachiopod that existed from the Darriwilian to the Ludlow epoch.
The Waterloo Farm lagerstätte is a Famennian lagerstätte in South Africa that constitutes the only known record of a near-polar Devonian coastal ecosystem.
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