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Ph.D.
UCLA, 1977 Paleoecology, Clastic Sedimentology, and Ichnology email: molly.f.miller@vanderbilt.edu General
Interests
What is the relationship between soft-bodied animals and physical and biologic components of their environment, and how has this relationship changed through the Phanerozoic? Has the history been different for those living in marine vs. freshwater conditions? Molly Miller’s long-term research goal is to find answers to these questions. To reach this goal, she integrates sedimentologic data with information about biogenic structures and the ecology of living organisms in order to reconstruct the ecological controls on ancient soft-bodied organisms. Current
Research
Molly Miller’s current research is on reconstructing the benthic communities of freshwater ecosystems and how they have changed through the Phanerozoic. Focused on the spectacularly well exposed upper Paleozoic to Mesozoic freshwater sequence in the Transantarctic Mountains, she uses biogenic structures and extent of bioturbation as a proxy for fossils of bottom-dwellers, and interprets the type and abundance of benthic animals in different environments (e.g. lakes, streams) during this crucial period in the development of freshwater habitats. This work led her Antarctic party’s discoveries of the oldest crayfish and crayfish burrows, significant in suggesting that crayfish have been important in structuring freshwater ecosystems for tens of millions of years longer than previously thought. Development of a semi-quantitative method for assessing bioturbation allows for comparison of benthic activity rocks of similar age deposited in the same environment in high latitude vs. low latitude settings and for comparison of animal activity in marine vs. freshwater depositional systems. Miller
also has studied the effect of obstacles (shell layers, hard grounds) on
modern and ancient borrowing animals and how this response has changed through
the Phanerozoic. Long-term continuing interests include coastal processes and
interpreting shoreline depositional processes in relation to the distribution
of biogenic structures. She is particularly interested in the (Devonian)
Catskill deltaic complex of New York and in Pennsylvanian fluvio-deltaic
deposits in northern Tennessee. She has studied Permian nonmarine turbidite
systems in the Transantarctic Mountains, which provided the sedimentologic
background for current studies of the benthic ecosystems. What
Students Do
Molly Miller’s
students have undertaken a wide variety of projects ranging from
sedimentologic and petrologic studies of shales and sandstones, to studies of
modern and ancient bioturbation. Selected
Publications
Miller,
M.F., and Currin, H.A. (in press). Behavioral
plasticity of modern and Cenoroic barrowing thalassinidean shrimp.
Palaeogeography, Palaeocli-matology, Palaeoecology. Miller,
M.F. (in press). Benthic aquatic
ecosystems across the Permian – Triassic transition: record from biogenic
structures in fluvial sandstones, Central Transantarctic Mountains. J. of
Africian Earth Sciences. Babcock, L.E., Miller, M.F., Isbell, J.L., Collinson, J.W., and Hasiotis, S.T. (1998). Paleozoic-Mesozoic crayfish from Antarctica: earliest evidence of freshwater decapod crustaceans. Geology, 26(6):530-542. Miller, M.F. and *Smail, S.E. (1997). Permian and Triassic nonmarine aquatic infaunal actived assessed semi-quantitatively using bedding-plane bioturbation indices. GSA Abstracts, 29:61. Miller, M.F. and *Smail, S.E. (1997). A semiquantitative field method for evaluating bioturbation on bedding planes. PALAIOS, 12:391-396. Miller, M.F., and Collinson, J.W. (1994). Trace fossils from Permian and Triassic sandy braided stream deposits, central Transantarctic Mountains. Palaios, 9:605-610. Miller, M.F. and *Myrick, J.L. (1992). Population fluctuations and distributional controls of Callianassa californiensiss: effect on the sedimentary record: effect on the sedimentry record. PALAIOS, 7:621-625. *student
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