Richard Laub

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Richard S. Laub is a scientist from the United States. He is curator of geology at the Buffalo Museum of Science, and directs excavations at the Hiscock Site in Byron, New York. His work includes development of the hypothesis that tuberculosis led to the extinction of the mastodon.

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Personal life and education

Richard Laub has a bachelor's degree from Queens College, City University of New York, a Masters of Science in paleontology and paleoecology from Cornell University, and a PhD. from the University of Cincinnati. [1]

Work in paleoecology and archaeology

Laub's scientific interests are in paleoecology and archaeology of the Northeastern United States. He is curator of geology at the Buffalo Museum of Science and directs excavations at the Hiscock Site in Byron, New York. [1] [2] During the course of his work he has demonstrated that giant condors once lived in upstate New York. [3]

Richard Laub has also hypothesized that an epidemic of tuberculosis helped drive the mastodon to extinction. [4] [5] [6] He finds it likely that most late Ice Age mastodon in North America had the disease. [7]

Related Research Articles

Mastodon Genus of mammals (fossil)

A mastodon is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus Mammut that inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Mastodons lived in herds and were predominantly forest-dwelling animals. They survived on a mixed diet and obtained food by browsing and grazing, somewhat similar to modern elephants, but probably with greater emphasis on browsing.

Clovis culture Prehistoric culture in the Americas c. 13,000 – 11,000 BP

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in the 1920s and 1930s. It appears around 11,500–11,000 uncalibrated years before present (YBP) at the end of the last glacial period and is characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools. Archaeologists' most precise determinations at present suggest this radiocarbon age is equal to roughly 13,200 to 12,900 calendar years ago.

Paleobiology Study of organic evolution using fossils

Paleobiology is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. Paleobiology is not to be confused with geobiology, which focuses more on the interactions between the biosphere and the physical Earth.

Museum of the Earth

The Museum of the Earth is a natural history museum located in Ithaca, New York. The museum was opened in 2003 as part of the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), an independent organization pursuing research and education in the history of the Earth and its life. Both PRI and the Museum of the Earth are formally affiliated with Cornell University. The Museum of the Earth is home to Earth science exhibits and science-related art displays with a focus on the concurrent evolution of the Earth and life.

Hiscock Site

The Hiscock Site is an archaeological and paleobiological site in Byron, New York, United States that has yielded many mastodon and paleo-Indian artifacts, as well as the remains of flora and fauna not previously known to have inhabited Western New York during the late Pleistocene. Now owned by the Buffalo Museum of Science, it has been studied by archeological excavation and analysis since 1983.

Burnet Cave is an important archaeological and paleontological site located in Eddy County, New Mexico, United States within the Guadalupe Mountains.

Manis Mastodon Site United States historic place

The Manis Mastodon site is a 2-acre (1 ha) archaeological site on the Olympic Peninsula near Sequim, Washington, United States, discovered in 1977. During the 1977-78 excavation, the remains of an American mastodon were recovered with a 13,800-year-old projectile point made of the bone from a different mastodon embedded in its rib. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Paul S. Martin American paleontologist

Paul S. Martin was an American geoscientist at the University of Arizona who developed the theory that the Pleistocene extinction of large mammals worldwide was caused by overhunting by humans. Martin's work bridged the fields of ecology, anthropology, geosciences, and paleontology.

Snowmastodon site

The Snowmastodon site, also known as the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, is the location of an important Ice Age fossil excavation near Snowmass Village, Colorado. Fossils were first discovered on October 14, 2010, during the construction of a 5 hectare reservoir to supply Snowmass Village with water. Over the subsequent weeks, after an agreement had been reached to allow paleontological excavation, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the U.S. Geological Survey worked along with the construction crews as more fossil material was uncovered. The site closed for five months over the winter, reopening May 15, 2011. Between May 15 and July 4, 2011, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted a large scale fossil excavation alongside construction crews building a dam for the reservoir. In total over 36,000 vertebrate fossils, more than 100 species of fossil invertebrates and over 100 species of fossil plants were found in sediments deposited by an alpine lake during the last interglacial period.

Dick "Sir Mammoth" Mol is a Dutch paleontologist - a specialist in the field of mammoths for almost three decades. He is a research associate of several museums. Mol's primary focus is on mammals of the Quaternary period, including mammoths and extinct rhinoceros species.

C. Malcolm Watkins (1911–2001) was an American historian, archaeologist, and curator. He researched early American material culture, with a specific interest in the decorative arts. Watkins served as a head curator of the Department of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He spent a total of 31 years working at the Smithsonian.

Paleontology in New York (state)

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 the United States

Paleontology in the United States refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the United States. Paleontologists have found that at the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now "North" America was actually in the southern hemisphere. Marine life flourished in the country's many seas. Later the seas were largely replaced by swamps, home to amphibians and early reptiles. When the continents had assembled into Pangaea drier conditions prevailed. The evolutionary precursors to mammals dominated the country until a mass extinction event ended their reign.

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Kay Behrensmeyer American taphonomist and paleoecologist

Anna Katherine "Kay" Behrensmeyer is an American taphonomist and paleoecologist. She is a pioneer in the study of the fossil records of terrestrial ecosystems and engages in geological and paleontological field research into the ecological context of human evolution in East Africa. She is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). At the museum, she is co-director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program and an associate of the Human Origins Program.

Kirk Johnson (scientist) American peleontologist (born 1960)

Kirk R. Johnson is an American paleontologist, author, curator, and museum administrator, and is currently serving as Sant Director of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Patrick Druckenmiller American paleontologist

Patrick S. Druckenmiller is a Mesozoic paleontologist, taxonomist, associate professor of geology, Earth Sciences curator, and museum director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, where he oversees the largest single collection of Alaskan invertebrate and vertebrate fossils. He has published work on plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mastodons, and dinosaurs in the United States, Svalbard, and Canada. He has co-authored papers on discussions of mass extinctions and biogeography. Much of his work has focused on Arctic species. He is a member of the Spitsbergen Jurassic Research group, which focuses on marine reptiles. Druckenmiller has named many new genera and species, including Edgarosaurus muddi, Nichollsia borealis, Athabascasaurus bitumineus, Cryopterygius kristiansenae, Spitrasaurus larseni, and Spitrasauruswensaasi.

Professor Daniel Fisher is a paleontologist who studies paleobiology and the extinction of mastodons. He received his Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Harvard University in 1975 and is the Claude W. Hibbard Collegiate Professor of Paleontology and the Director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan. His research on mammoth tusks has helped to shape the common understanding of mammoth life.

Norton George Miller (1942–2011) was an American bryologist and paleobotanist. He was the president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society from 1985 to 1987.

References

  1. 1 2 Buffalo Museum of Science – Dr Laub
  2. Journey to the Ice Age: Discovering an Ancient World by Peter L. Storck , 2004, p. 221-2
  3. Conservation of the California Condor
  4. FOXNews.com - Tuberculosis May Have Helped Bring Down Mastodons - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News
  5. Mastodons Driven to Extinction by Tuberculosis, Fossils Suggest
  6. Tuberculosis Helped Bring Down Mastodons | LiveScience
  7. news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061003-mastodons.html