Dark Data from the White Continent: New Light on Five Decades of Vertebrate Paleontology Collections from the Triassic Fremouw Formation of Antarctica

Part 1: A nontechnical description of the project

Around 252 million years ago, the Permian–Triassic mass extinction wiped out over 90% of species on Earth. At about the same time, the Antarctic portion of the supercontinent of Pangea transitioned to a warmer climatic regime devoid of a permanent ice cap. Compared to lower latitudes, relatively little is known about the survivors of the extinction in Antarctica, although it has been hypothesized that the continent’s more polar location shielded it from the worst of the extinction’s effects.

Relevant fossils from the Early Triassic of Antarctica have been collected for over 50-years, but nearly all of the small reptiles found have been assigned to either Procolophon or Prolacerta. However, preliminary data suggests that this is an undercount of the true diversity. This grant supports one postdoctoral researcher with expertise in fossil reptiles to reassess the Early Triassic fossil record of Antarctica, including their identification, relationships, and how they fit into the terrestrial ecosystem of Antarctica and other southern hemisphere terrestrial assemblages considering the major reorganization of post-extinction environments.

A quantitative reassessment of historical fossil collections is a major part of this work. Undergraduate students at the University of Washington will be actively involved as part of this research and learn skills like hard tissue histology and CT data manipulation. Public engagement in Antarctic science will be accomplished through the University of Washington Burke Museum, which is the Washington State museum of natural history and culture, and include display development and visits to schools in the Seattle area.

Part 2: A technical description of the project

This two-year project will bring new analytic techniques to bear on the nearly 1100 vertebrate fossils collected from the Lower Triassic portion of the Fremouw Formation of Antarctica over the past five decades. Through a combination of CT-based analysis of particularly well-preserved specimens, preparation and restudy of other critical fossils, and quantitative comparisons between the assemblages of the Fremouw Formation and coeval strata from lower latitudes, we can make substantial progress in understanding the significance of Antarctic vertebrate faunas during the initial stages of the Triassic.

More specifically, this research will 1) document previously undescribed species, 2) understand the taxonomic and ecological composition of Fremouw vertebrate (particularly reptile) assemblages, 3) make comparisons to several lower latitude assemblages, 4) measure skeletal completeness and anatomical representation in the records of synapsids, temnospondyls, and reptiles, and 5) assess taxonomic abundance and diversity of these major tetrapod groups across different localities and depositional environments. The problem of ‘dark data,’ or museum records not accessible digitally, will be addressed by providing the Antarctic data generated by this research to several repositories and online venues, including iDigBio.

Overall, this research will provide new insights into the vertebrate fauna of the Fremouw Formation, as well as shed light on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in southern Pangea in the wake of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Broader impacts work will include involving undergraduates at the University of Washington (UW) in several research projects, featuring Antarctic fossils at the UW Burke Museum’s annual DinoFest, developing a new display on Antarctic paleontology, and visiting local Seattle schools with a curriculum developed by the Burke Museum’s education department.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.