Assessing Ecological Relationships Among Late Triassic Vertebrates in Petrified Forest National Park

Alex Apgar, MS, PhD Student

Earth and Planetary Sciences
Mentors: Jason Moore and Corinne Myers

The vertebrate ecosystem of the Late Triassic has not yet been fully understood, largely due to oversimplification of hypothesized trophic hierarchies and limited preservation of direct evidence of faunal interaction.

Utilizing a combination of PAIRS analysis and NMDS ordination, we highlight vertebrate faunal relationships within the Adamanian and Revueltian faunachrons of Petrified Forest National Park, assess the likelihood that these patterns have ecological rather than preservational drivers, and examine how these potential interactions may have been impacted by the Adamanian-Revueltian turnover event.

We are able to infer potential faunal relationships and indicate possible paleofaunal structure stability across the Adamanian-Revueltian boundary. Analyses also suggest a “mosaic” of vertebrate taxa interactions separated on a semi-aquatic-terrestrial gradient is present rather than a series of segregated paleofaunas.