[Eoas-seminar] MS Prospectus - Martin Fernandez

[eoas-seminar at lists.fsu.edu]

Good morning



Please join us tomorrow for Martin Fernandez's MS Prospectus in EOAS 5067 at 3:00 pm.  See details below.



Title: Paleoecology of Devonian hydrozoans from the Northern Appalachian Basin



Name:  Martin Fernandez

Date: November 20th, 2025

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Location: EOAS 5067

Zoom: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/5935103946<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffsu.zoom.us%2Fj%2F5935103946&data=05%7C02%7Ceoas-seminar%40lists.fsu.edu%7C3cb06bf48d714367439908de277f86d9%7Ca36450ebdb0642a78d1b026719f701e3%7C0%7C0%7C638991625823013536%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sm2Y6sapxHHp83HptdnChZkZN6803ggjJm%2BDLgoKsy0%3D&reserved=0>

Major Professor: Dr. Jeremy Owens



Abstract: Non motile, sea bottom inhabiting animals (benthic epifauna) are some of the most prominent and ecologically impactful members of global marine communities today and have been since their earliest occurrences in the Ediacaran (Bambach, 1993). The Middle Paleozoic was a crucial time for benthic epifauna, including major evolutionary and ecological shifts in the history of these faunas alongside changes in their surrounding environments (e.g., Bush and Payne, 2021). Such research has established significant macroevolutionary shifts in ecological structure of shelled taxa by examining relative taxonomic composition and abundance, as well as paleoecological dynamics over long term geologic time that occurred from the Cambrian through Mesozoic (Phillips, 1861; Sepkoski, 1981; Signor and Brett, 1984). However, such dynamics are difficult to determine for soft bodied organisms, which represent a minority of the fossil record due to a lack of mineralized body parts such as shells, exoskeletons, or bones (Gaines, 2014; Hays et al., 2018). Plumalina Hall, 1858 is a rare exception, as a soft-bodied benthic epifaunal hydroid found abundantly in Devonian (419.6-358.9 million years ago; Ver Straeten, 2023) deposits of the northern Appalachian Basin. This provides the unique opportunity to investigate the paleobiology of a middle Devonian soft bodied organism. To that end, I will use morphology and environmental parameters to investigate the paleoecology of Plumalina from the Middle and Upper Devonian of New York, their associated rock matrix, and virtual anatomical models derived from measurements of hundreds of specimens. I will quantitatively assess and compare characters of anatomy, sedimentology, as well as preservational trends, which are directly controlled by paleoenvironmental characteristics. This aims to determine which and by what mechanisms, environmental factors affected Plumalina colonization and ontogenetic development.



 Best,

Adea


Adea Arrison
Sr. Academic Program Specialist
Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science
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