One Paper Out!

Hello backers!

Apologies for the long delay - the past year has been a whirlwind of research, much of which you helped to fund! One the papers that will be a direct result of your generosity has just been published in the journal Palaios - you can find the abstract here. If would like a copy of the paper, feel free to email me. I made sure to list all of you in the acknowledgments!

 

The paper compares decay experiments on two ferns and a cycad to the fossil record of ferns and seed ferns from the exceptional fossil locality Mazon Creek, which I described in my first lab note. My colleagues and I showed that despite the apparent 'fragility' of fern foliage, they decayed at the similar rates to the more robust cycad leaves - indicating that fern fossils have an equal chance of being fossilized, at least in relation to decay.

I have to get back to finishing up the other papers now! I leave you with the first figure of Locatelli et al. 2016, a selection of fern and seed fern fossils from Mazon Creek:

 

Best,

Emma