Paleo Project Challenge 2010: The Final Reckoning

Okay, folks. . .you've had three months and plenty of reminders and warnings. With that, the 2010 Paleo Project Challenge has drawn to a close. It's time to put down your pencils and hand in your tests.

What's that, you say?

You're not quite finished?

Well, here's your chance to bask in the abject humiliation of not finishing a project by the agreed upon deadline (don't worry, I'm feeling the warm glow, too). Or, if you're Dave Hone (my partner in founding and publicizing the PPC) and many of the rest of you, you can bask in the glory of advancing science. Or at the very least, not doing it any major harm.

I purposefully set my sights quite high for this one. Just like last year, I hit one square on (in fact, the reviews just came back!), and the other is going to need some work. My New Year's Resolution: don't let it be hanging around this time next year.

Below, I've given an updated list for the PPC. Those folks who are finished are marked in a congratulatory blue. The rest. . .are so close! If you completed your entry for the PPC (or didn't), drop a line in the comments, so I can mark it here! I'll be updating this entry for the next seven days.

Participants in the Paleo Project Challenge
Andy the Micropaleontologist - submit foram macroevolution paper; write draft of clade shape paper
Anonymous - find job; paper for Paleobiology; prep alligator fossil
Brian Beatty - paper on meningeal ossification in cetaceans
Robert Boessenecker - finished first draft of master's thesis
Martin Brazeau - finish redescription Ptomacanthus anglicus and include updated matrix
Andrea Cau - describe new theropod remains from north Africa
John Conway - finish Heterodontosaurus painting
DeinonychusDinosaur - restoration of Dryptosaurus [finished]
Andy Farke - finish paper for ODP [started!]; finish paper on ceratopsian anatomy [finished!]
Nick Gardner - submitted grant for Youngina part II
Casey Holliday - either a new croc species description or paper related to frontoparietal fossae [sent to coauthors]

Dave Hone - the necks paper [finished]
Jason - finish descriptions for Katian graptolite systematic paper.
David Maas - Illustrating Mallison's Kentrosaurus [so close!]
Heinrich Mallison - finish Plateosaurus CAE paper; sauropod rearing paper; sauropodomorph rapid locomotion paper
Jay - finished sauropod description
Jordan Mallon - Anchiceratops manuscript
Anthony Maltese - sharks scavenging on mosasaur paper; Niobrara ammonite paper

Eric Morschauser - finished theropod description
Paleochick - Cloverly paleobotany paper
Patty Ralrick - wrote paper on subfossil mass mortality site
Julie Reizner - submit Einiosaurus histology paper
Manabu Sakamoto - finish Pachyrhinosaurus drawing; finish and submit theropod bite force paper
John Scanlon - write up Oligocene lizards from Riversleigh; process and sort samples from Miocene microsite
Leo Sham - illustrate Raptorex; write cosmetic surgery review paper
Mark Spencer - finish paper critiquing model-based approaches to phylogeny reconstruction
Brian Switek - finished book proposal; polish and submit paper on Alabamornis; paper on Thoracosaurus specimen
David Tana - sign up for GRE; submit 9 pieces to Art Evolved time capsules; overhaul blog
Darren Tanke - finished biography of Oscar Erdman; finished paper on first helicopter lift of a dinosaur specimen; finished extended abstract on Hope Johnson
Mike Taylor - finally finish the Archbishop sauropod description
Matt van Rooijen - finish up Tarbosaurus bite pattern illustrations
Bruce Woolatt - 1/10 scale Quetzalcoatlus northropi flesh restoration

Last Day of the Paleo Project Challenge!

As 2010 draws to a close, so does the 2010 Paleo Project Challenge (PPC). It sounds like some folks are doing well, others haven't made much progress, and others have made some. We'll have the final check-in next week!

Back to the Late Jurassic, With Chris Noto

If you ask the average person to imagine the Age of Dinosaurs, odds are quite good that they might envision a scene from the Morrison Formation. This Late Jurassic-aged (156 - 147 million year old) rock unit of the western United States has given us such dinosaur greats as Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, and more. Many of these animals are known from exquisitely-preserved, complete skeletons - and thus their anatomy has been described in pretty ridiculous detail. The functional morphology (how these animals moved, breathed, ate, and fought) has also gotten a lot of attention. But, this only tells us about the individual lives of the organisms. To really understand their world, we need to think bigger.

Chris Noto, my friend and academic brother (we had the same Ph.D. advisor), has devoted his scientific career to a big-picture understanding of dinosaur ecology. He has a special place in his heart for the dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation, and has been chipping away at their ecology for quite awhile now. Thus, it was really exciting to see his recent co-authored paper in PLoS ONE, about that very topic. Also of note was that this paper served as Chris's contribution to the 2009 Paleo Project Challenge!

Chris was kind enough to offer a little behind-the-scenes look at his project and the research results. I hope you'll find it enlightening!

How did you get the idea for your project?
Well, this involves going back a ways. I have always been fascinated by extinct organisms, particularly what they were like as living, breathing individuals in their environment. As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago I had the privilege of working with two really great scientists: Paul Sereno and Fred Ziegler. Paul is a well known paleontologist who has worked all over the world. Fred’s work was responsible for many of the paleogeographic and paleoclimate maps used today. Working with Paul got me thinking about how dinosaurs varied over space and time; working with Fred introduced me to global climate patterns and changes in continental arrangement.

Once I got to graduate school at Stony Brook University I was taught the fundamentals of ecological theory. I started formulating an idea for looking at variation in dinosaur communities (the collection of all the different types of organisms that live in an area) and how those differences may be related to climate, but wasn’t sure how to approach it. Enter my good friend (and coauthor) Ari Grossman, who suggested applying this method, called Ecological Structure Analysis, commonly used in the study of fossil mammals. After some discussion on the appropriate way to adapt this method to the type of information available for dinosaur fossils, we agreed to work together on this project.

What was the most challenging part of writing the manuscript?
Like many papers, this one languished half done for many years. This was a side project of ours, and unfortunately our dissertation research had to come first. Every time I started working on it again I would realize that the data needed to be changed or updated, and this would sometimes change the results and our interpretation. I am a stickler for details and want to make sure all the data are as accurate as possible. But this project was simply too cool to let go. Once I graduated I decided to finish this manuscript as a first priority. It actually didn’t take too long after that once I put my mind to it; in the end I think that the paper was all the better for it. I learned a lot in the meantime, which contributed to making it a stronger manuscript. The hardest part by far though was actually submitting it to PLoS ONE for consideration. No one likes to be rejected, especially after putting so much work into a project! But this is the way the peer-review system works.

I noticed that you used the program PAST for your statistical analyses - how did you decide on that program? Were there any particular challenges to using this software?
I was attracted to PAST because it could perform the analyses I needed to do without a lot of unnecessary complication. Best of all, it was free, and I was a poor graduate student at the time. Most commercial statistics programs are expensive and difficult to use. PAST has a relatively simple interface and the results are easy to interpret, which is important. The major challenge with using PAST is in data management. If the data are not arranged in exactly the right way the analysis will not work correctly. Therefore it requires arranging the data first in a program like Microsoft Excel, and then copying and pasting it into PAST.

What was the most interesting thing you learned while doing your research?
First of all, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started doing this research. No one has looked for large-scale patterns like this in dinosaurs before. One interesting thing I learned is that such patterns exist in the fossil record and are preserved over the immense spans of time between when these communities existed and when they were recovered. The most exciting result for me has to be the fact that the proportion of different “ecomorphs”, such as high-browsing herbivores vs. low-browsing herbivores or bipeds vs. quadrupeds, varies with climate. So, we can draw a connection between the climate, environment, and adaptations of organisms living in an area (see figure below). This is no surprise for any ecologist working today, but has not been shown in a terrestrial ecosystem as ancient as the Jurassic (~155 million years ago). This opens up new areas of research into the role climate change plays on the structure of ecosystems over time.

Cartoon showing variation of environment and dinosaur ecomorphs. Drier conditions are on the left, where very large herbivores dominated among relatively sparse plant life. Communities under seasonal conditions are towards the center, and include a greater diversity of feeding modes among increased ground cover. To the right are moister conditions, where smaller herbivores are more prevalent within a more densely vegetated environment. Green=high browser, orange=intermediate browser, blue=low browser, red=ground forager. After Noto and Grossman 2010.

Thanks, Chris! For more about his research, check out his web site.

[Disclaimer: Although I am an editor at PLoS ONE, I had no role in the handling of this paper]

Citation
Noto, C., & Grossman, A. (2010). Broad-scale patterns of Late Jurassic dinosaur paleoecology PLoS ONE, 5 (9) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012553

Have You Accepted the Paleo Project Challenge?

A little over three weeks ago, Dave Hone and I kicked off the 2010 Paleo Project Challenge. Basically, it is an opportunity to finish off those nagging projects (whether they be manuscripts, artwork, blog posts, fossils to prep, or whatever) by the end of the year, or else face public shame. Lazy individuals that we are, we know that unless we make a public commitment to finish some projects, they will never get done!

So far, a number of individuals have accepted the challenge. It's not too late to join in - just post in the comments section. Remember. . .the goal is to finish the project by December 31. Everyone is watching!

Participants in the Paleo Project Challenge
Brian Beatty - paper on meningeal ossification in cetaceans
Andrea Cau - describe new theropod remains from north Africa
Andy Farke - finish paper for ODP; finish paper on ceratopsian anatomy
Nick Gardner - paper piggybacked with one of Casey's
Casey Holliday - either a new croc species description or paper related to frontoparietal fossae
Dave Hone - the necks paper
Heinrich Mallison - finish Plateosaurus CAE paper; sauropod rearing paper; sauropodomorph rapid locomotion paper
Jordan Mallon - Anchiceratops manuscript
Anthony Maltese - sharks scavenging on mosasaur paper; Niobrara ammonite paper
Patty Ralrick - paper on subfossil mass mortality site
Manabu Sakamoto - finish Pachyrhinosaurus drawing; finish and submit theropod bite force paper
Mike Taylor - finally finish the Archbishop sauropod description
Bruce Woolatt - 1/10 scale Quetzalcoatlus northropi flesh restoration
Anonymous - find job; paper for Paleobiology; prep alligator fossil
Jay - finish sauropod description

The 2010 Paleo Project Challenge

Everyone has an unfinished project. Most of us have at least a half dozen. Those partly finished manuscripts, paintings, data sets, and preparation projects. Oh, we started out with good intentions. Maybe we even poured a productive week into it. But then, the honeymoon glow faded. Something else got in the way. The field season, or teaching duties, or another more pressing project, or a grant deadline, or just plain old life circumstances, interrupted us.

Luckily, all of that work doesn't have to go to waste. Why not finish up that project? What are you waiting for? Heck, what am I waiting for?

Regular readers of this blog may remember that Dave Hone and I instituted the "Paleo Paper Challenge" (PPC) last year, in an effort to shame all of us into cleaning our (figurative) research plate. We had pretty remarkable success - although not everyone (including ourselves) were able to finish everything we wanted to, most folks made some major progress. Some papers even made it into publication, in venues like Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and PLoS ONE. Not too shabby.

Not wanting to rest on our laurels, it's time to kick things off for 2010. This year, Dave and I want to pursue a "bigger tent" approach. Why limit the PPC to just academic research? Let's open it up to all paleo enthusiasts! Preparators, artists, researchers, bloggers. . .after all, paleontology does not survive on publication alone. Thus, we are happy to kick off:

The Paleo Project Challenge
Do you have a paper that just needs the finishing touches before it heads off to publication? Is there some half-prepped fossil sitting in a cabinet in the lab? Have you started and finished a big blog post half a dozen times, but never pulled the trigger? Is that masterpiece rendering of a live Tylosaurus still sitting on the easel? Stop sitting around, and finish it!

Here are the rules:
1) Indicate your willingness to participate in the Paleo Project Challenge (PPC) in the blog comment section. You should at a minimum indicate the category it falls under (paper, blog, art, or whatever), and the project (if you can - we totally understand the need for secrecy in some cases!).
2) Do the work! You have until December 31, 2010. Remember, we're all watching.
3) Once you're done, celebrate!

You can read more about it from Dave's perspective here. Now, let's get to work!

My Commitments
1) Write up the ODP results.
2) Finish a long-running paper on ceratopsian anatomy.

What are you going to do? Chime in below in the comments section!

Paleo Paper Challenge: The Final Round-Up

Well. . .January 1, 2010 has faded into memory, and with it the 2009 Paleo Paper Challenge (PPC). For those of you who need a brief reminder, the PPC (sponsored by me and Dave Hone) was a chance for all of us who have partly-finished papers to give them the final push out the door. We had 22 individuals from around the world accept the challenge, and everyone made a pretty solid effort.

Now some folks expressed disappointment that they weren't able to complete everything they had hoped for. Personally, I only had a 50 percent success rate. But, as Dave said elsewhere, that wasn't really the point. As long as some work got done, that's what really counts. And if a paper got submitted - even better!

So, congratulations to all of our participants! I've included preliminary results below - if there is something I should update, either drop me an email or else leave a note in the comments. Here's looking forward to the PPC 2010. . .stay tuned for details, probably in September.

Results of the Paleo Paper Challenge

Brian Beatty
Calvert Formation terrestrial mammals review with Ralph Eshelman
Final status: Unknown

Tor Bertin:
Statistical analysis of evolution of sauropod body size, involving a mystery specimen
Final status: Unknown
Spinosauridae review
Final status: In progress

Lisa Buckley
Papers to be decided
Final status: Unknown

Andrea Cau:
Description of metriorhynchid from northern Italy
Final status: Major Progress

Andy Farke:
Myledaphus paper
Final status: Failure to launch
Final dissertation chapter
Final status: Revised and resubmitted

John Foster:
Morrison critter paper
Final status: Unknown

Francisco Gasco:
Master's thesis
Final status: Some progress

Mike Habib:
Pterosaur flight range
Final status: Some progress
Pterosaur aquaflyer paper
Final status: Submitted and accepted

Penny Higgins:
Bulk isotopic ratios from tooth enamel and general interpretation of environment
Final status: Major progress

Casey Holliday:
Articular cartilage paper
Final status: Major progress, almost ready for submission

Thomas Holtz:
Tyrannosaur heterochrony/paleoecology
Final status: Unknown

Dave Hone:
Unspecified papers
Final status: Two papers submitted, one still awaiting launch

ReBecca Hunt:
Mygatt-Moore taphonomy paper
Final status: Unknown

Nick Gardner:
Unspecified paper with Mickey Mortimer
Final status: Unknown

Chris Note and Ari Grossman:
Dinosaur ecomorphology
Final status: Unknown

Bill Parker:
Revueltosaurus manuscript
Final status: Unknown

Heinrich Mallison:
sauropods rearing
Final status: Minor progress
sauropodomorph rapid locomotion
Final status: Minor progress

Anthony Maltese:
Unspecified paper
Final status: One in press, one with a co-author, another with major progress

Mark Mancini:
Redondosaurus cranial description (with Axel Hungerbuehler)
Final status: Unknown

Eric Snively:
Chicken electromyography and implications for big theropod neck muscles
Final status: Submitted
Atlas of gekkotan lizards of the Paris Basin
Final status: Some progress
Artiodactyl vs. Stegoceras head-strike mechanics
Final status: Some progress

Mike Taylor:
The Archbishop description
Final status: Major progress

Matt Wedel:
Final dissertation chapter
Final status: Unknown

Adam Yates:
Early sauropodomorph pneumaticity
Final status: Unknown
Rauisuchians of the Elliot Formation
Final status: Unknown

Last Chance for the Paleo Paper Challenge

Per the "rules" of the Paleo Paper Challenge, we've all got until January 1st to finish up! Then, it's accountability time. . .(cue ominous music)

Paleo Paper Challenge: Are You Challenged Yet?

Last night, Dave reminded me that it's been nearly a month since we've had an update or progress report for all of you participating in the Paleo Paper Challenge. Remember, your homework is due January 1!

In my last post, I required you readers to publicly shame me if I didn't get right to work on my contributions. Well, I deserve to be shamed. I will confess to doing virtually nothing over the last few weeks (aside from a few very, very minor edits). . .thus, setting a very, very bad example. (although I did help get another manuscript that's not part of the challenge into review!)

So, how's everyone else doing?

The Paleo Paper Challenge: Roll Call!

The Paleo Paper Challenge, sponsored by Dave Hone of Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings and me, is nearly a month in. At last count, we have 22 23 participants! That's a lot of science going on.

Of course, what's the point of having a challenge without being challenged just a little bit? The whole point of this is to nudge. . .cajole. . .motivate. . .humiliate. . .all of us into finishing up those nagging papers. With less than three months to go, it's time to start kicking things into overdrive.

PPCers: Now it's time to make good on your promises. In the comments below, drop a note to tell us how you're doing! It's upon all of us to make each other finish these papers!

I'll start. I've committed to finishing a paper on a Myledaphus tooth site, as well as finish up revisions on one of my dissertation chapters. Right now, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't done a thing. But, the good news is that the dissertation chapter is on my priority list for the coming week. Readers: if I don't indicate any progress by Friday, you are allowed. . .nay, required. . .to publicly humiliate me. And while you're at it, get to work on your own papers!

That is all.

The Paleo Paper Challenge in the Blogosphere

The Paleo Paper Challenge is now in full swing! At just under 20 participants (and please let me know if I've inadvertently left you off the list!), some serious science is going to be happening in the next few months. Dave and I are seriously excited about the turnout.

In my casual internet browsing, I've noticed that a few of you have blogged about your efforts on the PPC (or at least mentioned them in passing). Here's a quick run-down of some of the links - once again, please let me know if I've left anyone out! And if you're a blogger, but haven't blogged about your participation, why not give it a try now?

Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings (Dave Hone; only most recent post included here): Return of the PPC, post SVP (& SVPC), OK?
Dinochick Blogs (ReBecca Hunt): Only 88 Days Left
El Pakozoico (Pak): Paleo Paper Challenge!
SV-POW! (Mike Taylor): Electronic Publishing is Inevitable, and Even the ICZN is Beginning to Accept It
Thoughts and Ideas from a Paleo Punker (Tor Bertin): The Paper Paper Challenge

The Paleo Paper Challenge: Post-SVP

In the event that you were trapped under a building for the past two weeks, the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings have come and gone. Not only do these meetings provide a nice outlet for ongoing research, they also provided an opportunity for me and Dave to 1) recruit more participants for the Paleo Paper Challenge; and 2) nag everyone to get to work on their papers, already! With the SVP recruits and new volunteers from the comment threads of this blog, the Paleo Paper Challenge is rounding out nicely. Oh yeah, and I finally got to meet Dave Hone in person.

Acceptors of the Paleo Paper Challenge

Brian Beatty
Calvert Formation terrestrial mammals review with Ralph Eshelman

Tor Bertin:
Statistical analysis of evolution of sauropod body size, involving a mystery specimen
Spinosauridae review

Lisa Buckley
Papers to be decided

Andrea Cau:
Description of metriorhynchid from northern Italy

Andy Farke:
Myledaphus paper
Final dissertation chapter

John Foster:
Morrison critter paper

Francisco Gasco:
Master's thesis

Mike Habib:
Pterosaur flight range

Penny Higgins:
Bulk isotopic ratios from tooth enamel and general interpretation of environment

Casey Holliday:
Articular cartilage paper

Thomas Holtz:
Tyrannosaur heterochrony/paleoecology

Dave Hone:
Unspecified paper

ReBecca Hunt:
Mygatt-Moore taphonomy paper

Nick Gardner:
Unspecified paper with Mickey Mortimer

Chris Note and Ari Grossman:
Dinosaur ecomorphology

Bill Parker:
Revueltosaurus manuscript

Heinrich Mallison:
sauropods rearing
sauropodomorph rapid locomotion

Anthony Maltese:
Unspecified paper

Mark Mancini:
Redondosaurus cranial description (with Axel Hungerbuehler)

Eric Snively:
Chicken electromyography and implications for big theropod neck muscles
Atlas of gekkotan lizards of the Paris Basin
Artiodactyl vs. Stegoceras head-strike mechanics

Mike Taylor:
The Archbishop description

Matt Wedel:
Final dissertation chapter

Adam Yates:
Early sauropodomorph pneumaticity
Rauisuchians of the Elliot Formation

The Paleo Paper Challenge: Who Has Accepted?

After our posts issuing the Paleo Paper Challenge, we have had a number of very brave souls step up to the plate. We're dusting those old papers off of our hard drives, finishing them up, and making a commitment to get them through into review!

Of course, it wouldn't be a challenge if we weren't holding our feet to the fire with the possibility of public embarrassment. All of us have signed on the dotted line, and committed to getting these puppies out the door by January 1, 2010!

It's not too late to sign up yourself! There's always room for one more - so join the party!

Acceptors of the Paleo Paper Challenge

Tor Bertin:
Manuscript on mystery specimen

Andy Farke:
Myledaphus paper
Final dissertation chapter

John Foster:
Unspecified paper

Casey Holliday:
Articular cartilage paper

Dave Hone:
Unspecified paper

ReBecca Hunt:
Unspecified paper

Bill Parker:
Revueltosaurus manuscript

Heinrich Mallison:
Plateosaurus CAE (is waiting for the two other diss chapters to come out of review)
sauropods rearing
alligator muscle cross sections
non-Plateosaurus at MFN description
sauropodomorph rapid locomotion

Anthony Maltese:
Unspecified paper

Mark Mancini (Tanystropheus):
Redondosaurus cranial description

Eric Snively:
Chicken electromyography and implications for big theropod neck muscles.
Atlas of gekkotan lizards of the Paris Basin.
Artiodactyl vs. Stegoceras head-strike mechanics.

Mike Taylor:
The Archbishop description

Matt Wedel:
Final dissertation chapter

Adam Yates:
Early sauropodomorph pneumaticity
Rauisuchians of the Elliot Formation

The Paleo Paper Challenge

Dave Hone of Archosaur Musings and I were recently chatting online and were lamenting the inevitable problem of ‘the unfinished paper’. Most researchers have a project or two (or anything up to 20) that were started and then kind of stalled for various reasons – uncooperative co-authors, being unable to find the elusive essential paper, other projects taking priority, or just general malaise. It’s left as a few pages of notes, or unreferenced, without figures or a key analysis complete or whatever. It’s good science and publishable, it’s just not done. Without a good incentive to get them finished off (like a rival group) or them getting out of date (the stuff is interesting but not ground breaking and will not revolutionize the field when it comes out, but it’s not old either) these things can last for ever. Sometimes, all the manuscript needs is one day of solid work to kick the thing out the door!

Both of us have these kinds of papers knocking around and we are far from the only ones. As such with SVP around the corner we decided to issue the Paleo Paper Challenge (or Palaeo Paper Challenge, if you're so inclined). If you have a palaeo paper that really needs to be finished off then we challenge you to sign up here and get it done this year. If so, simply leave a note in the comment thread and we’ll total them all up in a few days and create a register of those taking part (so you can’t back out!). There is no need to let everyone know exactly what it is you are working on (if people want to keep things private, that’s fine) but of course juicy details will be welcome. Dave and I will also both be canvassing at SVP, and if you want to encourage others to join, do please mention this on your own blogs etc.

This should serve as both self-motivation to get the project done and a nice little race to see who can finish first and get their paper(s) submitted or in print. The real challenge of course is simply to get it done, so we are setting January 1, 2010, as your ‘official’ deadline – if you are joining the challenge you’ll have about three months to get it done. There are hundreds if not thousands of these papers languishing on hard drives so let’s try and get a few of them out there!

[NOTE: This post was largely written by Dave. . .I've modified it slightly for posting here. Perhaps this laziness is why I have so many half-finished papers sitting on my hard drive right now.]