Post from yesterday
I am now approaching the end of my introductory week at Bristol. I'm enjoying it all immensely; the course looks to be great fun (I have managed to wrangle my module options so that I only have to sit two full blown exams), the staff seem very friendly and the other people on the masters (there are fifteen of us) are good too.
As well as my compulsory modules (Scientific Communication, Current Controversies, Research Methods in Palaeobiology, Micropalaeontology, and Taphonomy and Palaeoecology) I have elected to sit modules on Dinosaurs, Biomechanics, Trace Fossils and Arthropods, and Systematic Methods.
We have also been given lists of possible research projects with which to spend the last six months of the course working on. There are thirty possible projects and, as I said before, fifteen of us. Naturally there will be some overlap, but most people have more than one that they wouldn't mind doing.
Naturally I have a problem. Three projects caught my eye; phylogeny of the Crocodilia, skull systematics of the Sauropoda, and a rediscription of Drepanopterus abonensis. Unfortunately, it seems that Chloe (one of the other course members) has her eye on all of them two. We both rather like dinosaurs, and as she never got to work on them in undergrad whereas I did, I may let her take the sauropod project. This will let me do the Drepanopterus description. This suits me fine, as I've decided I'd rather do that anyway.
See, whatever we do has a high chance of getting published, and I'd quite like my name to a species description and analysis. The other thing is that working on Drepanopterus would require some field work as well as the lab work- and the site is only ten miles away. The final thing is that Drepanopterus is a Eurypterid - or sea scorpion - and they are quite possibly some of the most amazing creatures ever to have existed.
Eurypterids are almost perfect forms of life. They range from a few centimetres up to a couple of metres in length, depending on the species. Drepanopterus is about twenty centimetres long. They look fairly scorpion-like, although some of their claw appendages beat whatever we have around today. They are all primarily marine, except that they had a dual-respiratory system, and so could come up on to land for periods of time. Trackways indicate that they mass-migrated to breed and moult.
The Drepanopterus project is supervised by Simon Braddy, who is our course tutor. I've already spoken to him about what the project would entail - essentially a more thorough and up-to-date description (the original used only a partial, poorly preserved specimen, and we now have a much better data source) and look at the palaeoenvironment. I would also get to do a cladistic analysis of it - and as it seems to have some derived characteristics long before other species do, this could be an interesting exercise.
Despite not knowing whether or not I will get to do the project, I have found a journal article detailing the palaeobiology of Eurypterids (by Braddy himself), plus been brushing up on body-part terminology using one of my text books.
Marc's got the same thing - except he wants to do a project looking at British Mesozoic Conifer trees.
I can only hope that I enjoy the lectures as much as I think I shall, and pass all of those, as without doing so we can't continue onto the project.
I also have to hope that I land the Drepanopterus work. But as Braddy knows I want to do it, and I'm pretty sure I can bribe Chloe away from it, I should be in with a chance.
As well as my compulsory modules (Scientific Communication, Current Controversies, Research Methods in Palaeobiology, Micropalaeontology, and Taphonomy and Palaeoecology) I have elected to sit modules on Dinosaurs, Biomechanics, Trace Fossils and Arthropods, and Systematic Methods.
We have also been given lists of possible research projects with which to spend the last six months of the course working on. There are thirty possible projects and, as I said before, fifteen of us. Naturally there will be some overlap, but most people have more than one that they wouldn't mind doing.
Naturally I have a problem. Three projects caught my eye; phylogeny of the Crocodilia, skull systematics of the Sauropoda, and a rediscription of Drepanopterus abonensis. Unfortunately, it seems that Chloe (one of the other course members) has her eye on all of them two. We both rather like dinosaurs, and as she never got to work on them in undergrad whereas I did, I may let her take the sauropod project. This will let me do the Drepanopterus description. This suits me fine, as I've decided I'd rather do that anyway.
See, whatever we do has a high chance of getting published, and I'd quite like my name to a species description and analysis. The other thing is that working on Drepanopterus would require some field work as well as the lab work- and the site is only ten miles away. The final thing is that Drepanopterus is a Eurypterid - or sea scorpion - and they are quite possibly some of the most amazing creatures ever to have existed.
Eurypterids are almost perfect forms of life. They range from a few centimetres up to a couple of metres in length, depending on the species. Drepanopterus is about twenty centimetres long. They look fairly scorpion-like, although some of their claw appendages beat whatever we have around today. They are all primarily marine, except that they had a dual-respiratory system, and so could come up on to land for periods of time. Trackways indicate that they mass-migrated to breed and moult.
The Drepanopterus project is supervised by Simon Braddy, who is our course tutor. I've already spoken to him about what the project would entail - essentially a more thorough and up-to-date description (the original used only a partial, poorly preserved specimen, and we now have a much better data source) and look at the palaeoenvironment. I would also get to do a cladistic analysis of it - and as it seems to have some derived characteristics long before other species do, this could be an interesting exercise.
Despite not knowing whether or not I will get to do the project, I have found a journal article detailing the palaeobiology of Eurypterids (by Braddy himself), plus been brushing up on body-part terminology using one of my text books.
Marc's got the same thing - except he wants to do a project looking at British Mesozoic Conifer trees.
I can only hope that I enjoy the lectures as much as I think I shall, and pass all of those, as without doing so we can't continue onto the project.
I also have to hope that I land the Drepanopterus work. But as Braddy knows I want to do it, and I'm pretty sure I can bribe Chloe away from it, I should be in with a chance.