(Blacksburg, Va.) -- The body size of ancient creatures,
bivalves and brachiopods, could tell geoscientists a lot about
the creatures' life history and about the ecology of the times
in which they lived. However, traveling the world to measure
these creatures' fossils would take several life-times and more
travel funds than scientists usually have. Since the same
creatures have also become abundant in scientific literature
since the mid 1800s, a team of Virginia Tech researchers is
determining whether measuring photos of fossils collected
worldwide would be a reliable way to compile body size data.
Richard A. Krause Jr. of Greenfield, Wis., a PhD. student in the
Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech, will report on his
assessment of this nontraditional approach at the joint meeting
of the Northeastern and Southeastern Sections of the Geological
Society of America, to be held March 25-27 in Tysons Corner, Va.
Bivalves (i.e. clams) are common today while brachiopods, which
look like clams but have a differ