Our Research

Not Just Trophy Hunting!

Dinosaurs are great, but they're just a part of complex, dynamic, fascinating ecosystems. In general, our scientific mission is to study and understand the ancient ecosystems preserved within the rocks of the Bighorn Basin.  That includes dinosaurs, but also the other plants and animals that lived throughout the region, and the landscapes they inhabited.  

Below are just some of the large-scale research projects we're working on right now:

Research Projects

Latest Cretaceous Ecosystems

To date, most of our work has focused on the Latest Cretaceous (~65-68 mya) ecosystems preserved within the Lance and Meeteetse formations. These rock units preserve many of the most famous dinosaurs - like T. rex, Triceratops, and Pachycephalosaurus - as well as fish, turtles, crocodiles, beautifully preserved plant leaves, and even amber.

• We're interested in comparing aspects of this unit and its fossilized remains to better-known portions of the Lance Formation in eastern Wyoming and to the Hell Creek Formation

• Why are some areas full of fossils, while other areas have almost none?

K/Pg Extinction

The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) Extinction - which ended the Reign of Dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago - and life's rebound following that cataclysmic event, is one of the most fascinating periods in the history of life on Earth.

• What organisms survived and why?

• How long did it take for life and the landscape to return to "normal," and what was the new "normal," anyway?

• What plants and animals evolved to fill the void left by the dinosaurs and other newly-extinct organisms?

Late Jurassic Morrison Formation

In 2015, our team began work in one of the northern-most exposures of the Late Jurassic (~145 myo) Morrison Formation.  The Morrison Formation is world-famous for dinosaurs, especially sauropods (long-necks) and Allosaurus - the king of the predators at the time.  But most of what we know about the Morrison comes from exposures farther south, in states like Utah and Colorado.  

• How was the Morrison ecosystem here different from the better-studied areas to the south?

• What kind of sauropod(s) are we finding? Is it new? Is it a juvenile?

• Why are we finding SO MANY dinosaur remains here?

publications

Paleontology is a slow process.  As a new organization, our publication list is predictably short, but growing!  With so many exciting projects in the works, and this list is already growing!

NOTE: If the links below do not provide a pdf, we will be happy to provide them upon request.

2019

• Schein, J.P., Poole, J.C., Malinowski, B.L., Schmidt, R.W., and Rooney, L.A., 2019. Reopening the Mother’s Day Quarry (Jurassic Morrison Formation, Montana) is Yielding New Information. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

2018

• Adams, A., 2018. Exploring the Paleoenvironment of the Morrison Formation in the Bighorn Basin. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

• Poole, J.C., 2018.  The Evolution of the Scientific Understanding Affecting the Artistic Representation of Hadrosaurus foulkii. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

• Poole, J.C., 2018. A scientifically directed reconstruction of the large Devonian predatory fish Hyneria lindae. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

• Schein, J.P., R.W. Schmidt, J.P. Poole, 2018. Dinosaur Treasures In Our Backyards: A model for fostering community pride in geological and paleontological resources. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs. POSTER

• Tumarkin-Deratzian, A., 2018. Pseudopathology Revised: Geological Noise versus Biological Signal. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

• Anné, J., R.A. Wogelius, M.P. Edwards, A van Veelen, M. Buckley, W. I. Sellers, U Bergmann, D. Sokaras, R. Alonso-Mori, V.L. Harvey, V.M. Egerton, and P.L. Manning, 2018. Morphological and chemical evidence for cyclic bone growth in a fossil hyaena. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.

Pre-2018 

• Miranda, A., A.R. Tumarkin-Deratzin, J. Schein, and D. C. Parris, 2017. Vertebrate microfossils from the Shield Wolf Quarry, Lance Formation (Maastrichtian), Carbon County, MT, U.S.A. Geological Society of America, Joint NE-NC Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.

• Malinowski, B.L., L.A. Rooney, J.P. Schein, and J.C. Poole., 2016. A new partial skeleton of Leptoceratops gracilis from the Lance Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 181.  

• Schein, J.P., G.P. Wilson, C.A. Sidor, L.B. DeBey, J.C. Poole, and B.L. Malinowski. Tapping a new source: the anatomy of a successful crowdfunding campaign for vertebrate paleontology. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2015, 208-­209.     

• Payne, B., J. C. Poole, and J.P. Schein, 2013. Unearthing Interest in Paleontology for WINS Interns. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 45(7):569.    

Collaborative Publications

Our researchers don't just work in and study the Bighorn Basin.  Their research efforts have international significance and contribute to the world's collective knowledge.  These publications are just a few highlights reflecting our paleontologists' extensive and wide-ranging fields of expertise.

2017

• Anné, J., Edwards, N.P., van Veelen, A., Egerton, V.M., Manning, P.L., Mosselmans, J.F.W., Parry, S., Sellers, W.I., Buckley, M. and Wogelius, R.A. 2017. Visualisation of developmental ossification using trace element mapping. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. 32: 967 – 974doi: 10.1039/C7JA00042A.

• Buckley, M., Warwood, S., Dongen, B. van, Kitchener, A.C., and Manning, P.L. 2017b. A fossil protein chimera; difficulties in discriminating dinosaur peptide sequences from modern cross-contamination. Proc. R. Soc. B, 284 (1855): 20170544. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0544.

• Mustansar, Z., McDonald, S.A., Sellers, W.I., Manning, P.L., Lowe, T., Withers, P.J., and Margetts, L. 2017. A study of the progression of damage in an axially loaded Branta leucopsis femur using X-ray computed tomography and digital image correlation. PeerJ, 5: e3416. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3416.

• Sellers, W.I., Pond, S.B., Brassey, C.A., Manning, P.L., and Bates, K.T., 2017, Investigating the running abilities of Tyrannosaurus rex using stress-constrained multibody dynamic analysis: PeerJ, v. 5, p. e3420, doi: 10.7717/peerj.3420.

2016

• Anné, J., B.J. Hendrick, and J.P. Schein, 2016. First diagnosis of septic arthritis in a dinosaur. Royal Society Open Science. R. Soc. open sci.3: 160222.

• Brassey, C.A., O’Mahoney, T.G., Kitchener, A.C., Manning, P.L., and Sellers, W.I. 2016. Convex-hull mass estimates of the dodo ( Raphus cucullatus) : application of a CT-based mass estimation technique. PeerJ, 4: e1432. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1432.

• Edwards, N.P., van Veelen, A., Anné, J., Manning, P.L., Bergmann, U., Sellers, W.I., Egerton, V.M., Sokaras, D., Alonso-Mori, R., Wakamatsu, K., Ito, S., and Wogelius, R.A. 2016. Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy. Scientific Reports, 6: 34002. doi: 10.1038/srep3400.

• Anné, J., Wogelius, R.A., Edwards, N.P., van Veelen, A., Ignatyev, K., and Manning, P.L. 2016. Chemistry of bone remodeling preserved in extant and fossil Sirenia. Metallomics, 8:508-513.

• Harvey, V.L., Egerton, V.M., Chamberlain, A.T., Manning, P.L., and Buckley, M. 2016. Collagen Fingerprinting: A New Screening Technique for Radiocarbon Dating Ancient Bone (S. E. Halcrow, Ed.). PLOS ONE, 11 (3): e0150650. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150650.

• Hedrick, B.P., Gao, C., Tumarkin-Deratzian, A.R., Shen, C., Holloway, J.L., Zhang, F., Hankenson, K.D., Liu, S., Anné, J., and Dodson, P. 2016. An Injured Psittacosaurus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Yixian Formation (Liaoning, China): Implications for Psittacosaurus biology: Psittacosaurus Fibular Fracture. The Anatomical Record, 299 (7): 897–906. doi: 10.1002/ar.23363.

• Razzolini, N.L., Vila, B., Díaz-Martínez, I., Manning, P.L., and Galobart, À. 2016. Pes shape variation in an ornithopod dinosaur trackway (Lower Cretaceous, NW Spain): New evidence of an antalgic gait in the fossil track record. Cretaceous Research, 58: 125–134. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2015.10.012.

2015

• Anné, J., Garwood, R.J., Lowe, T., Withers, P.J. and Manning, P.L. 2015. Interpreting pathologies in extant and extinct archosaurs using micro-CT. PeerJ 3:e1130 https://dx.doi/org/10.7717/peerj.1130.

• Barden, H.E., Behnsen, J., Bergmann, U., Leng, M.J., Manning, P.L., Withers, P.J., Wogelius, R.A., and van Dongen, B.E. 2015a. Geochemical Evidence of the Seasonality, Affinity and Pigmenation of Solenopora jurassica (L. C. R. Silva, Ed.). PLOS ONE, 10 (9): e0138305. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138305.

• Barden, H.E., Bergmann, U., Edwards, N.P., Egerton, V.M., Manning, P.L., Perry, S., van Veelen, A., Wogelius, R.A., and van Dongen, B.E. 2015b. Bacteria or melanosomes? A geochemical analysis of micro-bodies on a tadpole from the Oligocene Enspel Formation of Germany. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 95 (1): 33–45. doi: 10.1007/s12549-014-0177-5.

• Egerton, V.M., Wogelius, R.A., Norell, M.A., Edwards, N.P., Sellers, W.I., Bergmann, U., Sokaras, D., Alonso-Mori, R., Ignatyev, K., van Veelen, A., Anné, J., van Dongen, B., Knoll, F., and Manning, P.L. 2015. The mapping and differentiation of biological and environmental elemental signatures in the fossil remains of a 50 million year old bird. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 30 (3): 627–634. doi: 10.1039/C4JA00395K

• Harazim, D., McIlroy, D., Edwards, N.P., Wogelius, R.A., Manning, P.L., Poduska, K.M., Layne, G.D., Sokaras, D., Alonso-Mori, R., and Bergmann, U. 2015. Bioturbating animals control the mobility of redox-sensitive trace elements in organic-rich mudstone. Geology, 43 (11): 1007–1010. doi: 10.1130/G37025.1

• Manning, P.L., Egerton, V.M., and Romano, M. 2015. A New Sauropod Dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of the United Kingdom (A. Fiorillo, Ed.). PLOS ONE, 10 (6): e0128107. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128107

2014

• Anné, J. Edwards, N.P., Wogelius, R.A., Tumarkin-Deratzian, A.R., Seller, W.I., van Veelen, A., Bergmann, U., Sokaras, D., Alonso-Mori, R., Ignatyev, K., Egerton, V.M. & Manning, P.L. 2014. Synchrotron imaging reveals bone healing and remodeling strategies in extinct and extant vertebrates. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 11: 20140277. doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0277

• Edwards, N.P., Manning, P.L., Bergmann, U., Larson, P.L., van Dongen, B.E., Sellers, W.I., Webb, S.M., Sokaras, D., Alonso-Mori, R., Ignatyev, K., Barden, H.E., van Veelen, A., Anné, J., Egerton, V.M., et al. 2014a. Leaf metallome preserved over 50 million years. Metallomics, 6 (4): 774–782. doi: 10.1039/C3MT00242J.

• Edwards, N.P., Manning, P.L., and Wogelius, R.A. 2014b. Pigments through time. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, 27 (5): 684–685. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12271

• Lacovara, K., M.C. Lamanna, L. Ibiricu, J. Poole, E. Schroeter, P. Ullmann, K. Voegele, Z. Boles, A. Carter, E. Fowler, V. Egerton, A. Moyer, C. Coughenour, J.P. Schein, J. Harris, R. Martínez, and F. Novas, 2014. A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina. Scientific Reports 4:6196.

• Edwards, N.P., Manning, P.L., and Wogelius, R.A. 2014b. Pigments through time. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, 27 (5): 684–685. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12271

• Parris, D. C., J.P. Schein, E.B. Daeschler, E.S. Gilmore, J.C. Poole, and R.A. Pellegrini, 2014. Two halves make a holotype: two hundred years between discoveries. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 163:85-89.