PALEOECOLOGY READING GROUP

          Course readings and links to reference materials will be posted here for each topic. Also, we will be using the statistical programming environment R in this course; the program can be downloaded here.

Jan. 25, 2006: Basic statistics review

Statistical concepts:

  • variables and distributions
  • central tendency (mean, median, mode)
  • spread (variance, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, standard error)
  • significance testing
  • significance vs. effect size
  • Student t-test
  • calculating appropriate sample size
  • correlation
  • regression
    • Model I: ordinary least squares
    • Model II: reduced major axis, major axis (principal components analysis)

Feb . 1, 2006: Ecomorphology - morphological diversity

Measures of morphological diversity:

  • Euclidean distance
    • mean link length of the minimum spanning tree
    • mean distance from centroid (Levene test)
    • mean nearest neighbor distance
  • morphological disparity (mean pairwise dissimilarity) (Foote, 1992)
  • volume of occupied morphospace (Wagner, 1996)

Statistical concepts:

Readings:

  • Van Valkenburgh, B. (1988). Trophic diversity in past and present guilds of large predatory mammals. Paleobiology 14(2): 155-173. [pdf]
  • Wesley-Hunt, G. D. (2005). The morphological diversification of carnivores in North America. Paleobiology 31(1): 35-55. [pdf]

Feb . 8, 2006: Ecomorphology - inferring paleohabitat

Statistical concepts:

  • principal components analysis (PCA)
    • covariance matrices
    • correlation matrices
    • factor loadings
    • factor scores
  • canonical variates analysis (CVA)
  • discriminant function analysis (DFA)
  • scale-free variables
  • stepwise functions
  • Mahalanobis distance
  • Box's M-test for homogeneity of covariance
  • cross-validation

Readings:

  • Kappelman, J. (1988) Morphology and locomotor adaptations of the bovid femur in relation to habitat. Journal of Morphology 198: 119-130. [pdf]
  • Kappelman, J., Plummer, T., Bishop, L., Duncan, A., and Appleton S. (1997) Bovids as indicators of Plio-Pleistocene paleoenvironments in East Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 32: 229-256. [pdf]
  • Scott, R.S., J. Kappelman, and J. Kelley. (1999) The paleoenvironment of Sivapithecus parvada. Journal of Human Evolution 36: 245-274. [pdf]
  • DeGusta, D., and Vrba, E.S. (2003) A method for inferring paleohabitats from the functional morphology of bovid astragali. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1009-1022. [pdf]

Feb . 15, 2006: Measuring and assessing relative abundance

Counting specimens:

  • number of identifiable specimens (NISP)
  • minimum number of elements (MNE)
  • minimum number of individuals (MNI)
  • minimum number of animal units (MAU)
  • minimum number of skeletal units (MNSU)

Statistical concepts:

  • Type I verus Type II error
  • Chi-square test
  • Cochran's test
  • Taxonomic evenness
  • Monte Carlo methods
    • jacknife
    • bootstrap
    • randomization

Readings:

  • Cannon, M.D. (2001). Archaeofaunal relative abundance, sample size, and statistical methods. Journal of Archaeological Science 28: 185-195. [pdf]
  • Grayson, D.K., Delpech, F., Rigaud, J.-P., and Simek, J.F. (2001). Explaining the development of dietary dominance by a single ungulate taxon at Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 28: 115-125. [pdf]

Feb . 22, 2006: Trends in relative abundance

Readings:

  • Scott, R.S., Fortelius, M., Huttunen, K., and Armour-Chelu, M. (2003). Abundance of "Hipparion". In eds. Fortelius, M., Kappelman, J., Sen, S., Bernor, R.L.: Geology and Paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey. pp: 380-397. [pdf]
  • Scott, R.S., and Maga, M. (2005). Paleoecology of the Akkasdagi hipparions (Mammalia, Equidae), late Miocene of Turkey. Geodiversitas. 27(4): 809-830. [pdf]

Feb . 27, 2006: Computer applications

March. 8, 2006: AAPA meetings

March. 15, 2006: Spring Break

Mar. 23, 2006: Diversity indices

Readings:

  • Bobe, R., and Eck, G.G. (2001). Responses of African bovids to Pliocene climate change. Paleobiology Memoirs. 27(2) Supplement: 1-47. [pdf]
  • Grayson, D.K., Delpech, F., Rigaud, J.-P., and Simek, J.F. (2001). Explaining the development of dietary dominance by a single ungulate taxon at Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 28: 115-125. [pdf]

Mar. 31, 2006: Coding in R

Apr. 7, 2006: Project Discussion