Re: Systematics and Paleontology (posted for D. Campbell)

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Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 19:37:07 -0500
To: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk
From: bivalve@email.unc.edu (David Campbell)
Subject: Re: Systematics and Paleontology
Status: O

As a graduate student, I'm not sure if my subfield in paleontology is
entirely established, though my thesis was on systematics and
biostratigraphy of Eocene gastropods.  To me, systematic work seems vital
to all other aspects of paleontology, based on the Garbage in-Garbage out
principle.  The "big picture" studies are hot air if their data are bad,
and some knowledge of taxonomy is required to assess the quality of the
data.
   Perhaps this basicness is part of the problem.  One can do very good
taxonomy without any contact with most other fields of paleontology or
other paleo -ologies (a bit of knowledge about the ages, paleogeographic
setting, etc. is probably needed), whereas someone in paleoclimate modeling
needs to work with a bit of paleobiogeography, meteorology, geochemistry,
paleoceanography, etc., etc. and the result is both greater interaction
with assorted colleagues as well as a paper more likely to appear in a
journal read by non-paleontologists.  Although I wouldn't mind simply
identifying assorted old seashells, if I can draw broader conclusions from
my data it will be of more interest to more people.  In addition, by doing
the taxonomy myself, I have a better basis for my claims than someone who
simply took literature compilations and ran a new analysis.  However, the
former approach takes longer and more work, which aren't selling points.

David Campbell   "old seashells"
Department of Geology
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
bivalve@email.unc.edu