John A. Long

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John Long in the field with Gogo fossil fish, July 2005. John Long with Gogo fish in the field 2005.jpg
John Long in the field with Gogo fossil fish, July 2005.

John Albert Long (born 1957) is an Australian paleontologist who is currently Strategic Professor in Palaeontology at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. He was previously the Vice President of Research and Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. [1] He is also an author of popular science books. [2] His main area of research is on the fossil fish of the Late Devonian Gogo Formation from northern Western Australia. [3] It has yielded many important insights into fish evolution, such as Gogonasus [4] and Materpiscis, [5] the later specimen being crucial to our understanding of the origins of vertebrate reproduction. [6]

Contents

His love of fossil collecting began at age 7 [7] and he graduated with PhD from Monash University in 1984, specialising in Palaeozoic fish evolution. He held postdoctoral positions at the Australian National University (1984–85, Rothmans Fellow), The University of Western Australia (1986–87, Queen Elizabeth II Award) and The University of Tasmania (1988–89, ARC Fellow) before taking up a position as Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Western Australian Museum (1989–2004), [8] and then as Head of Sciences at Museum Victoria (2004–2009). [9]

Paleontological research

Long's paleontological research has involved field work collecting and studying Palaeozoic fishes throughout Australia, [10] Antarctica, [11] South Africa, [12] Iran, [13] Vietnam, [14] Thailand [15] and China. [16] Long's early research led to the refinement of a new biostratigraphic scheme for dating Palaeozoic sequences in Victoria, Australia.

Most of his later research has focussed on collecting and describing the well-preserved 3-dimensional Devonian fishes from the Gogo Formation, Western Australia. [17] His major discoveries from his field expeditions to the Gogo fossil sites (1986–2008) included the first complete skull of an osteolepiform fish, Gogonasus, [18] and a new specimen showing that Gogonasus had large spiracles opening on top of its head. [19] Other discoveries include several new types of dipnoans [20] and arthrodires, [21] and the discovery of the first Devonian fishes showing embryos inside them. This later discovery, published in the journal Nature (May 2008) was the first time that reproduction by internal fertilisation was demonstrated in the extinct Class Placodermi, and the oldest evidence for vertebrate viviparity yet discovered. One of the specimens, named Materpiscis , was also the only known fossil to show a mineralised umbilical structure linked to the unborn embryo. Nature magazine made a short documentary video about this discovery.[ citation needed ] Other Gogo fish fossils have been found showing remarkable preservation of 3-D muscle tissues, nerve cells and microcapillaries, [22] [23] making this one of the world's most extraordinary sites for exceptional preservation of fossils of this age.

One of Long's discoveries, the placoderm Mcnamaraspis , [24] made history by becoming Australia's first official state fossil emblem when it was declared by the Governor as the Western Australian fossil emblem on 5 December 1995. [25]

Science communication

In addition to his work as a palaeontologist John Long has been prominent as a key science communicator in Australia, mainly through his many popular science books, written for both adults and children, which include works of fiction as well as non-fiction. [26] His book The Rise of Fishes −500 Million Years of Evolution is widely used as a standard reference on fish evolution, and his books dealing with Australian dinosaurs [27] and Mesozoic faunas, and on Australian and New Guinean prehistoric mammals [28] were the first tomes to comprehensively cover these topics. His work collecting fossils in Antarctica was published as a book Mountains of Madness – A Scientist's Odyssey Through Antarctica that gave the first detailed account of a modern scientific expedition to Antarctica as told from the scientist's viewpoint. [29]

His work on the international fossil trade, which highlighted problems of fossil smuggling and ignorance of legislation, was made into a 2-part documentary series entitled The Dinosaur Dealers, and published as a book of the same name. He has been active in Australia since the late 1990s dealing with issues of fossil repatriation, legislation and heritage. His books for children include two novels based on cutting-edge research that paint vivid pictures of travelling back in time to experience the varied landscapes of prehistoric Australia (Mystery of Devils Roost, Journey to the Dawn of Time) [30] [31] as well as non-fiction works dealing mainly with dinosaurs [32] and prehistory, but also with the environment and climate change [33] and the development of human civilizations. [34]

Since 2013 John Long has written or been involved in producing some 30 article for The Conversation website [35] which has had over 1.45 million hits. His work has been selected for the 2015 [36] and 2017 Anthology of Best Australian Science Writing. [37]

Professional service

John Long became the first Australian to hold the position of President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), [38] an office between 2016 and 2018. As a member of the executive committee of the SVP between 2012 and 2018, he was involved in litigation [39] against US President Donald Trump for reducing the area of National Monuments like Grand Staircase–Escalante in Utah holding significant paleontological resources. In 2016 he became President of the Royal Society of South Australia. [40] John Long has also been an active participant in protecting Australian fossil heritage. He has actively participated in the campaign to update the Heritage status of the Beaumaris fossil site in Melbourne to protect it [41] from future development. [42]

Awards

Long's awards include the 2001 Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science, [43] the 2003 Riversleigh Society Medal for promoting the understanding of Australian prehistory, [44] and the 2008 Australasian Science Prize, a prize awarded across all disciplines of science and medicine each year by Australasian Science magazine for excellence in peer-reviewed research. The 2008 Prize was awarded for the discovery of the world's oldest vertebrate embryos. [45]

Long's literary awards include the 2006 Best Primary Reference book by the Australian Publishers Association for The Big Picture Book- Life on Earth Unfolding Through Time, [46] which also picked up the 2006 Environmental Award for Children's Literature (non-fiction) and was short-listed for the best information book (Eve Pownall Award of the Children's Book Council) and shortlisted for best children's book in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards 2006. In 2007 his book Swimming in Stone-The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley was shortlisted for the Science writing prize of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. [47]

In 2011 Long and colleagues Kate Trinajstic, Gavin Young & Tim Senden were short-listed for the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. [48] In December 2011 Long received the 2011 Research Medal of the Royal Society of Victoria (Category Earth Sciences). [49]

In 2014 he was awarded the Verco Medal for research from the Royal Society of South Australia. [50]

In 2016 he was part of Prof Ross Large's team TEPO (Trace Elements in Past Oceans) which won the 2016 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. [51]

In 2019, he won the Jim Bettison and Helen James Award at the Adelaide Film Festival. [52]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetrapod</span> Superclass of the first four-limbed vertebrates and their descendants

A tetrapod is any four-limbed vertebrate animal of the superclass Tetrapoda. Tetrapods include all extant and extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the latter in turn evolving into two major clades, the sauropsids and synapsids. Some tetrapods such as snakes, legless lizards, and caecilians had evolved to become limbless via mutations of the Hox gene, although some do still have a pair of vestigial spurs that are remnants of the hindlimbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lungfish</span> A type of bony fish

Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the class Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed internal skeleton. Lungfish represent the closest living relatives of the tetrapods. The mouths of lungfish typically bear tooth plates, which are used to crush hard shelled organisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placoderm</span> Class of fishes (fossil)

Placoderms are members of the class Placodermi of armoured prehistoric fish, known from fossils, which lived from the Silurian to the end of the Devonian period. Their head and thorax were covered by articulated armoured plates and the rest of the body was scaled or naked, depending on the species. Placoderms were among the first jawed fish; their jaws likely evolved from the first of their gill arches.

<i>Dunkleosteus</i> Genus of extinct fishes

Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first apex predators of any ecosystem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthrodira</span> Extinct order of fishes

Arthrodira is an order of extinct armored, jawed fishes of the class Placodermi that flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction, surviving for about 50 million years and penetrating most marine ecological niches. Arthrodires were the largest and most diverse of all groups of placoderms.

<i>Groenlandaspis</i> Genus of fishes (fossil)

Groenlandaspis is an extinct genus of arthrodire from the Late Devonian. Fossils of the different species are found in late Devonian strata in all continents except eastern Asia. The generic name commemorates the fact that the first specimens of the type species were found in Greenland.

<i>Gogonasus</i> Extinct genus of tetrapodomorphs

Gogonasus was a lobe-finned fish known from three-dimensionally preserved 380-million-year-old fossils found from the Gogo Formation in Western Australia. It lived in the Late Devonian period, on what was once a 1,400-kilometre coral reef off the Kimberley coast surrounding the north-west of Australia. Gogonasus was a small fish reaching 30–40 cm (1 ft) in length.

<i>Psarolepis</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Psarolepis is a genus of extinct bony fish which lived around 397 to 418 million years ago. Fossils of Psarolepis have been found mainly in South China and described by paleontologist Xiaobo Yu in 1998. It is not known certainly in which group Psarolepis belongs, but paleontologists agree that it probably is a basal genus and seems to be close to the common ancestor of lobe-finned and ray-finned fishes. In 2001, paleontologist John A. Long compared Psarolepis with onychodontiform fishes and refer to their relationships.

<i>Onychodus</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Onychodus is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish which lived during the Devonian Period. It is one of the best known of the group of onychodontiform fishes. Scattered fossil teeth of Onychodus were first described from Ohio in 1857 by John Strong Newberry. Other species were found in Australia, England, Norway and Germany showing that it had a widespread range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gogo Formation</span> Lagerstätte formation in Kimberley, Australia

The Gogo Formation in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is a Lagerstätte that exhibits exceptional preservation of a Devonian reef community. The formation is named after Gogo Station, a cattle station where outcrops appear and fossils are often collected from, as is nearby Fossil Downs Station.

<i>Materpiscis</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Materpiscis is a genus of ptyctodontid placoderm from the Late Devonian located at the Gogo Formation of Western Australia. Known from only one specimen, it is unique in having an unborn embryo present inside the mother, with remarkable preservation of a mineralised placental feeding structure. This makes Materpiscis the oldest known vertebrate to show viviparity, or giving birth to live young.

<i>Diplocercides</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Diplocercides is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish belonging to the coelacanth group which lived during the Late Devonian period. Fossils of Diplocercides have been found in Germany, Iran, Ireland, Australia and Poland. In 2010, three-dimensional fossils of Diplocercides were described from the Gogo Formation of Western Australia

<i>Holonema</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Holonema is an extinct genus of relatively large, barrel-shaped arthrodire placoderms that were found in oceans throughout the world from the Mid to Late Devonian, when the last species perished in the Frasnian-Fammian extinction event. Most species of the genus are known from fragments of their armor, but the Gogo Reef species, H. westolli, is known from whole, articulated specimens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megalichthyidae</span> Extinct family of tetrapodomorphs

Megalichthyidae is an extinct family of tetrapodomorphs which lived from the Middle–Late Devonian to the Early Permian. They are known primarily from freshwater deposits, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, but one genus (Cladarosymblema) is known from Australia, and the possible megalichthyid Mahalalepis is from Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osteolepididae</span> Paraphyletic family of tetrapodomorphs

Osteolepididae is a family of primitive, fish-like tetrapodomorphs that lived during the Devonian period. The family is generally thought to be paraphyletic, with the traits that characterise the family being widely distributed among basal tetrapodomorphs and other osteichthyans. Some of genera historically placed in Osteolepididae have more recently been assigned to the family Megalichthyidae, which appears to be a monophyletic group.

<i>Eastmanosteus</i> Extinct genus of placoderm fish

Eastmanosteus is a fossil genus of dunkleosteid placoderms. It was closely related to the giant Dunkleosteus, but differed from that genus in size, in possessing a distinctive tuberculated bone ornament, a differently shaped nuchal plate and a more zig-zagging course of the sutures of the skull roof.

<i>Incisoscutum</i> Genus of extinct placoderms

Incisoscutum is an extinct genus of arthrodire placoderm from the Early Frasnian Gogo Reef, from Late Devonian Australia. The genus contains two species I. ritchiei, named after Alex Ritchie, a palaeoichthyologist and senior fellow of the Australian Museum, and I. sarahae, named after Sarah Long, daughter of its discoverer and describer, John A. Long.

Rhinodipterus is an extinct genus of prehistoric dipnoan sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fish, that lived in the Devonian Period, between 416 and 359 million years ago. It is believed to have inhabited shallow, salt-water reefs, and is one of the earliest known examples of marine lungfish. Research based on an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the Gogo Formation of Australia has shown that Rhinodipterus has cranial ribs attached to its braincase and was probably adapted for air-breathing to some degree as living lungfish are. This could be the only case known for a marine lungfish with air-breathing adaptations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolution of fish</span> Origin and diversification of fish through geologic time

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.

The evolution of fishes took place over a timeline which spans the Cambrian to the Cenozoic, including during that time in particular the Devonian, which has been dubbed the "age of fishes" for the many changes during that period.

References

  1. ↑ "Burning Man". LA Times Magazine. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "The Big Picture Book". Allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Long, John A. (1 February 2010). "The Late Devonian Gogo Formation Lägerstatte of Western Australia: Exceptional Early Vertebrate Preservation and Diversity – Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 38(1):255". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Annualreviews.org. 38: 255–279. Bibcode:2010AREPS..38..255L. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152416.
  4. ↑ Nature (2006). "An exceptional Devonian fish from Australia sheds light on tetrapod origins". Nature. 444 (7116): 199–202. Bibcode:2006Natur.444..199L. doi:10.1038/nature05243. PMID   17051154. S2CID   2412640.
  5. ↑ Nature (2008). "Live birth in the Devonian period". Nature. 453 (7195): 650–652. Bibcode:2008Natur.453..650L. doi:10.1038/nature06966. PMID   18509443. S2CID   205213348.
  6. ↑ "The Mother Fish". Nature . Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Clode, Danielle (2021). John Long: Fossil hunter. Melbourne: Wild Dingo Press. pp. 1–7.
  8. ↑ Russell, Bruce. "Books : Swimming in Stone: The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley by John Long". Fremantle Press . Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "Museum Victoria Farewells John Long « Victorian Skeptics". Vicskeptics.wordpress.com. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "West Australian Fossil Find Rewrites Land Mammal Evolution". Sciencedaily.com. 19 October 2006. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  11. ↑ Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica. Nap.edu. 2001. doi:10.17226/9848. ISBN   978-0-309-07077-5 . Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  12. ↑ Anderson, M.E. (1999). "Journal of African Earth Sciences : Devonian (Emsian-Eifelian) fish from the Lower Bokkeveld Group (Ceres Subgroup), South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 29: 179–193. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(99)00088-3.
  13. ↑ "Abstract book, Isfahan meeting IGCP 421, 5–20 December 1998 / [edited: Ruth Mawson ... [et al.]]| National Library of Australia". Catalogue.nla.gov.au. 20 December 1998. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  14. ↑ "A new bothriolepid antiarch (Pisces, Placodermi) from the Devonian of Do Son peninsula, northern Vietnam". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.
  15. ↑ Long, John A. (1990). "Late Devonian Chondrichthyans and Other Microvertebrate Remains from Northern Thailand". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 10 (1): 59–71. Bibcode:1990JVPal..10...59L. doi:10.1080/02724634.1990.10011790. JSTOR   4523296.
  16. ↑ Long, John A. (2001). "On the Relationships of Psarolepis and the Onychodontiform Fishes". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 21 (4): 815–820. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0815:OTROPA]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR   20062023. S2CID   86232770.
  17. ↑ Long, John (1988). "A new camuropiscid arthrodire (Pisces: Placodermi) from Gogo, Western Australia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 94 (3): 233–258. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1988.tb01194.x.
  18. ↑ ABC Science Online. "News in Science – Ancient fish was advanced for its age – 19/10/2006". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  19. ↑ Holland, Timothy (10 September 2008). "On the phylogenetic position of Gogonasus andrewsae Long 1985, within the Tetrapodomorpha". Acta Zoologica. Wiley Online Library. 90: 285–296. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6395.2008.00377.x.
  20. ↑ "Morphology, Phylogeny and Paleobiogeography of Fossil Fishes – Inhalt". Pfeil-verlag.de. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  21. ↑ Mateer, John. "Books : Swimming in Stone: The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley by John Long". Fremantle Press. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  22. ↑ Trinajstic, Kate; Marshall, Carina; Long, John; Bifield, Kat (22 April 2007). "Exceptional preservation of nerve and muscle tissues in Late Devonian placoderm fish and their evolutionary implications – Biology Letters". Biology Letters. Rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org. 3 (2): 197–200. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0604. PMC   2375963 . PMID   17284403 . Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  23. ↑ Trinajstic, K.; Sanchez, S.; Dupret, V.; Tafforeau, P.; Long, J.; Young, G.; Senden, T.; Boisvert, C.; Power, N.; Ahlberg, P. E. (2013). "Fossil Musculature of the Most Primitive Jawed Vertebrates | Science". Science. 341 (6142): 160–164. doi:10.1126/science.1237275. PMID   23765280. S2CID   39468073. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Long, John A.; Trinajstic, Kate (1 February 2010). "The Late Devonian Gogo Formation Lägerstatte of Western Australia: Exceptional Early Vertebrate Preservation and Diversity". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 38: 255–279. Bibcode:2010AREPS..38..255L. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152416.
  25. ↑ "Department of the Premier and Cabinet – Fossil Emblem – Gogo Fish". Dpc.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  26. ↑ "Authors & Illustrators – L". Det.wa.gov.au. 28 July 2001. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  27. ↑ Long, John A. (1998). Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand and Other Animals of the Mesozoic Era (9780674207677): John A. Long: Books. Harvard University Press. ISBN   067420767X.
  28. ↑ "Product Details". Jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu:80. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  29. ↑ Pattanaik, Devdutt. "Mountains of Madness: John Long, John Long, Foreword By Tim Bowden (9780309070775)". Flipkart.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  30. ↑ Verolme, Hetty. "Books : Mystery of Devil's Roost by John Long". Fremantle Press. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  31. ↑ tp://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/871
  32. ↑ Long, John (24 July 2007). Dinosaurs (Insiders) (9781416938576): John Long: Books . Simon and Schuster. ISBN   978-1416938576.
  33. ↑ "The Big Picture Book of Environments". Allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  34. ↑ "The Big Picture Book of Human Civilisation". Allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  35. ↑ "John Long – The Conversation". Theconversation.com. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  36. ↑ "The Best Australian Science Writing 2015". NewSouth Books. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  37. ↑ "The Best Australian Science Writing 2017". NewSouth Books. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  38. ↑ "SVP Past Presidents - vertpaleo". vertpaleo.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2014.
  39. ↑ "National Geographic Australia & New Zealand | Disney Australia". Nationalgeographic.com.au. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  40. ↑ "About the Society - Royal Society of South Australia". www.rssa.org.au. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015.
  41. ↑ National Heritage Listing for Beaumaris nobeaumarismarina.com [ dead link ]
  42. ↑ John Long (26 July 2015). "We need to protect the fossil heritage on our doorstep". Theconversation.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  43. ↑ "Eureka: For exceptional performance in public promotion of science through a diverse range of activities". Eureka.australianmuseum.net.au. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  44. ↑ "Award winning scientist to open lecture series | Scoop News". Scoop.co.nz. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  45. ↑ "Mother fossil find awarded the Australasian Science Prize" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  46. ↑ "The Big Picture Book". Allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  47. ↑ "Media Release: 2007 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist Announced". Legislation.vic.gov.au. 10 August 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  48. ↑ "2011 Finalist". Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  49. ↑ "Newsletter" (PDF). Royal Society of Victoria. July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  50. ↑ flindersblogs (9 October 2014). "Flinders scientist wins coveted science prize – News". News. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  51. ↑ "TEPO , Winner 2016 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research" (video). YouTube. 16 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  52. ↑ "The Bettison & James Award". Adelaide Film Festival. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  53. ↑ Hung Like An Argentine Duck: A Journey Back in Time to the Origins of Sexual Intimacy. HarperCollins. 2011. ISBN   978-0-7322-9273-7 . Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  54. ↑ Frozen in Time – Prehistoric Life in Antarctica. CSIRO . Retrieved 19 December 2012.
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