Predator-prey interactions have been a major influence on animal evolution throughout history, but how can we determine which animals were interacting in this way?
Lydia Tackett, Ph.D., will answer that question, and more, in “Predator-Prey Interactions Through Time” at the Spring River Gem & Mineral Club at 10 a.m. Friday at Thunderbird Center, 62 N. Lakeshore Road in Cherokee Village, Ark.
Tackett is an assistant professor in the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability at Missouri State University in Springfield. She earned her Ph.D. in earth sciences at the University of California in 2014. In her presentation, Tackett will discuss some of the methods used to identify predator-prey interactions and put them into a larger perspective of animal evolution in the oceans. Her research blends both paleoecology and sedimentology, focusing on how predator-prey relationships change after major Earth events, like asteroid impacts or climate changes. As a paleoecologist, Tackett studies ecosystems, piecing together how animals and environments interacted thousands or even millions of years ago. As a sedimentologist, she studies sedimentary rocks, modern sediments (such as sand, silt and clay), and the natural processes (such as weathering, erosion) by which they are formed.
Tackett studies all types of marine fossils, including shelly things and vertebrates, particularly from the late Triassic (237 to 201 million years ago), and has done fieldwork in the western U.S., Italy and New Zealand. She is finding never-before-discovered evidence of vertebrates in New Zealand that coincide with her research in the late Triassic period.
“My passion is fossils, sediment and students,” says Tackett. “I never saw myself as a science person initially. It was late in college when I discovered my love of science. I want students to know they don’t have to have it all figured out at the start.” Tackett applied for and received a National Science Foundation grant so that she could take students to North Dakota and uncover fossils that haven’t seen the light of day in one-half billion years.
The Spring River Gem & Mineral Club is mostly retirees who know that there is so much they don’t know. It is geared for people who want to learn more about the world around them. Program topics include geology, mineralogy, anthropology, paleontology, archaeology, astrobiology, Native Americans, Ozark academic history and Only in Arkansas presentations. Programs are always “live” and given by experts in their fields. For members only, there are field trips and a monthly silent auction for minerals and fossil specimens.
The August Secret Silent Auction is a 17-inch by 2-inch by 1.5-inch-high selenite wand. The Secret Silent Auction is one in which the bids are kept secret, with the highest bid winning. The main auction is a continuous open auction in which members can outbid the previous bid. The bids for this auction start at 25 cents.
Dues, which enable the SRGMC to remain a vital club by live presentations given by experts in their fields, are $15 for a single person, $25 for a couple. Visitors are invited to check out the SRGMC and attend this meeting for free. For further info, text or call 870-847-3109.
