Indiana Today 1 - Indiana Today.pdf · Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) 11.Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) 12.Bobcat (Lynx rufus) 13.Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) 14.Gray

Department of Geological Sciences | Indiana University(c) 2012, P. David Polly Paleontology and Geology of Indiana

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Seal of the State of Indiana

The Paleontology and Geology of Indiana

Indiana Today

Objectives


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1. Overview of Indiana’s physiography and climate

2. Introduction to modern biomes

3. Anthropogenic changes to modern Indiana

4. Historical view of life and the Earth

5. Introduction to Earth systems

6. Course overview


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Physiographic Regions of Indiana, 2002, Indiana Geological Survey. H. H. Gray (Data compiler), Kim Sowder (GIS compiler)

Modern Physiographic Regions


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Modern Climate

Indiana (1971-2000)

Mean annual temperature 10.9° C 51.6° F

Mean Jan cold -7.9° C 17.7° F

Mean July warm 29.5°C 85.1° F

Global

Mean annual temperature 14.0° C 57.2° F


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Charles Deam Wilderness Area(photo by Richard FIelds from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Modern biomes:Deciduous forest


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Wetlands of northern Indiana(photo from Fish Creek Fen in La Porte County by Richard Fields

from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Modern Biomes:

Flatwoods, or floodplain forests(photo from Versailles State Park in Ripley County by Lee

Casebere from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Cypress swamp, characteristic of far southwestern Indiana (photo from Hovey Lake, Posey County by Russell Mumford from

Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Wetlands


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Tallgrass prairie with Indian grass(photo by Marion Jackson from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Modern Biomes:Prairie


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1. Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) 2. Raccoon (Procyon lotor)3. Long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata)4. Least weasel (Mustela nivalis)5. Mink (Mustela vison)6. Otter (Lontra canadenesis)7. Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis)8. Badger (Taxidea taxus)9. Coyote (Canis latrans)10. Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)11. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)12. Bobcat (Lynx rufus)13. Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans)14. Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)15. Fox squirrel (Sciurus niger)16. Franklin ground squirrel (Spermophilus franklinii)17. Thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus

tridecemilineatus)18. Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)19. Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus)20. Woodchuck (Marmota monax)21. Beaver (Castor canadensis)22. Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)23. Swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus)24. Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridianus)25. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginiaus)

(total 58)

Modern Biota:Mammals(excluding bats, shrews , moles and small rodents)


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Modern BiomesLand Cover map

Forest 4,343,879 19.5%Wetlands 995,553 4.7%Prairie 1,000 >0.1%Agricultural 15,100,000 70.7%Developed 911,443 4.3%


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Seal of the State of Indiana

What about the Buffalo?The present is the key to the past...

... but the past was different from the present.

Sir Archibald Geikie(1905, The Founders of Geology)


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Lindsey et al., 1965. Soil relations and distribution map of vegetation of pre-settlement Indiana. Botanical Gazette, 126: 155-163.

Forest 20,000,000 87.1%

Wetlands 1,500,000 6.4%

Prairie 2,000,000 8.5%

Pre-1800 BiomesLand Cover map


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Early European Settlement in Indiana


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Sycamore in Wabash River bottoms (photo by Robert Ridgway , from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

Tuliptrees near Vincennes (photo by Robert Ridgway, 1888, from Natural Heritage of Indiana)

The Deciduous Forests of Indiana


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J. Heredity, 1915

The largest deciduous tree in the United States in 1915American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalisWorthington, Indiana (Greene County)

45.3 ft in circumferenceWabash Lowlands

Floodplain of West Fork of White River


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Historic mammal species in Indiana

Mountain lion(Puma concolor)

Red wolf(Canis rufus)

Black bear (Ursus americanus)Elk or Wapati(Cervus canadensis)

American bison (Bison bison) Porcupine(Erithizon dorsatum)


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1732 1806

1783

1838

1812

The Buffalo Trace

Forest bisonBialowieza Forest

Poland

from WIlson, G. R. 1919. Early Indiana Trails and Surveys


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The Buffalo TraceOld bison trail in southern Indiana from Big Bone Lick, Kentucky to western prairies. Indiana’s first roadPhoto Taken on the northern edge of the Buffalo Trace Park in Palmyra, Harrison County, Indiana. (Wikipedia)


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Clearing of Indiana (1800-1917)

Cleared land and girdled trees near Wheatland, Knox County. Photo 1885 by Robert Ridgway (from Natural Heritage of

Indiana).

1800 20,000,000 87.1%

1870 6,600,000 28.7%

1917 1,660,000 7.2%

2011 4,500,000 19.5%

Forested acres in Indiana

Modern Indiana agricultural landscape. (photo by Lee Casebere from Natural Heritage of Indiana).


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Lindsey et al., 1965. Soil relations and distribution map of vegetation of pre-settlement Indiana. Botanical Gazette, 126: 155-163.

ForestWetlandsPrairieClearedUrban

Changes in Land CoverPre-1800 2001


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Indiana’s extirpation timeline

87.1% 28.7% 7.2% 19.5% % Forest

5,641 988,416 2,700,000 6,080,485 Population


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Indiana’s extirpated vertebrates

Mountain lion(Puma concolor)

Red wolf(Canis rufus)

Black bear (Ursus americanus)

Elk or Wapati(Cervus canadensis)

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

American bison (Bison bison)

Porcupine(Erithizon dorsatum)

Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Carolina parakeet(Conuropsis carolinensis)

Globally extinct: 1918

Passenger pigeon(Ectopistes migratorius) Globally extinct: 1900

Since 1800

6 actinopterygians 1 squamate 8 birds (two globally extinct)11 mammals26 total


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Expansion of mammals in Indianapost-1800

Coyote (Canis latrans)

Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

White tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus)


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Expansion of mammals in Indianapost-1800

1972

1995

Taulman and Robbins, 1996. Journal of Biogeography, 23: 635-648

Coyote (Canis latrans)

Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

White tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)


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Extinction and Extirpation

Extinction— the loss of a species through the disappearance of all of its members.

Extirpation (=Local extinction)— the loss of a species in a particular geographic region, but where it continues to exist elsewhere.

Global extinction— the loss of a species everywhere.

Mass extinction— a phenomenon where a large percentage of the Earth’s species become extinct in a geologically short period of time, usually due to the effects of a common global-scale process.

Background extinction— the almost constant (geologically speaking) loss of species for specific, local reasons.

Pseudoextinction— definitional loss of a species when an evolving lineage is divided into more than one species. In pseudoextinction descendants live on, even though none of them are classified as belonging to their ancestral species. Sometimes called a “book-keeping extinction”.


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Stanley, SM (2005) Earth System History

Earth systemsCycles of chemicals, nutrients, etc. that link life, rocks, atmosphere, and oceans on large scales. These systems change, sometimes over both long and short timescales. Changes in one part of the system are linked to changes in another.

Carbon and Oxygen Cycles

CO2 and O2 are important to several Earth system cycles

Evaporation, biomass, photosynthesis, and carbon and carbonate deposition are important to both biogeochemical cycles


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Remains of 1964 forest fire (photo from Indiana Wildfire)

Carbon and Indiana’s ForestsForests are short-term carbon sinks: 55 metric tons of carbon / hectare (ha) 24.5 tons / acre

ballpark figure based on US Forests by Birdsey, 1990

• Carbon obtained from atmosphere by photosynthesis

• Death, decay, and burning release the carbon into atmosphere as CO2

• In stable forest system, the amount removed equals amount released

• Deforestation results in net release, reforestation results in net sequestering

Area Forested(acres)

Change in Area(acres)

Carbon flux(millions of tons)

1800 20,000,0001870 6,600,000 -13,400,000 +328.31917 1,660,000 -5,000,000 +122.52011 4,500,000 2,900,000 -17.1

Net: +433.7


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This CourseObjectives

1. To learn about Indiana’s paleontological and geological history2. To learn about the geological and evolutionary processes that have shaped

that history3. To learn about the history of major groups of organisms, the origins of life

on land, growth of the North American continent, changes in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans

4. To better understand large scale Earth systems

Organization

A. Overview of Indiana geology and paleontologyB. Historical geology of IndianaC. Concepts, natural resources, recent geological history


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Places to see Indiana’s natural habitats

Old Growth ForestDonaldson’s Woods and Schmelz Nature PreserveOne of the most impressive stands of original forests remaining in IndianaSpring Mill Park, near Mitchell, Lawrence Countyhttp://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/Mitchell-Donaldson.pdf

Prairie and Wetlands Hoosier Prairie Nature PreserveRemnant of prairie landscape mixed with wetlandsHoosier Prairie Preserver, near Griffith, Lake Countyhttp://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/NP_Hoosier_Prairie-color.pdf

WetlandsTwin Swamps Nature PreserveSwamp cottonwood-bald cypress swamp and flatwoodsNear Hovey Lake, Posey Countyhttp://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/np_Twin_Swamps_color022609.pdf

Further ReadingThe Natural Heritage of IndianaBy Marion Jackson (editor)1997, Indiana University Press

http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/Mitchell-Donaldson.pdf

http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/Mitchell-Donaldson.pdf

Documents

Indiana Today 1 - Indiana Today.pdf · Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) 11.Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) 12.Bobcat (Lynx rufus) 13.Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) 14.Gray