Paleobiodiversity and Earth Science Paleoenvironmental Data

Paleontology lies at the interface of earth sciences, biology and geologic time. When matched to histories of environmental change, such data is ideally suited to understanding how climate/environmental change affects biodiversity, and even how biodiversity change affects climate. Paleontologic and earth science collections, the data derived from them, and the global data infrastructures used in research are distinctively different than those in biology. Geologic time-linked earth science collections are found in geologic surveys, the oil industry and in museums as rock samples and sediment cores; paleontologic collections in museums and (via the microscopic fossils they contain) in sediment core repositories. Much published geologic time-linked earth science data is not tied to any collection material, and collected fossils are mostly only loosely linked to earth science collections or data. The exception is sediment cores and microfossils, where both earth science data and microfossil specimens are taken from the same cores and are thus tightly linked to each other. Lastly, most paleobiodiversity data used in research, even if derived from collection material, is compiled from th