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Courses:
Human Anatomy (BIO 290), Mammalogy (BIO 426).
Research Interests: Functional morphology of burrowing
vertebrates, especially mammals. Diet of extinct herbivores.
An on-going aspect of my research is the study of
mammals that have adapted to life underground. Subterranean
animals, and the burrows they “engineer,” help test the controversial
hypothesis that some organisms can modify their environment
significantly enough to influence the evolution of successive
generations, as well as other organisms in the ecosystem.
Observation of digging animals is one way to study the relationship
between behavior and morphology, which in turn enables us to better
understand evolutionary processes. The burrows of these animals
often have distinctive architecture and digging marks, which helps
identify burrows in the fossil record. Those fossilized burrows
then become useful tools for interpreting habitat conditions and
changes.
I am also interested in the use of phytoliths (the
silicified remains of plant cells) to help answer paleoecological
questions. Phytoliths have a variety of uses: they accumulate in
the plaque on molar teeth, providing a way to identify plants in an
organism’s diet. Similarly, concentrations of phytoliths inside a
fossilized burrow can pinpoint nests or food stores that would
otherwise be invisible. A major goal in my lab is to build a
database of phytoliths from modern and fossil plants, and from dental
plaque. I am currently emphasizing 1) plaque from living browsers
(such as moose, tapir), and 2) plaque from modern and prehistoric human
teeth. These data are applicable to broad-scale studies, such as
dietary trends through time (for instance, any detectable seasonal
trends could indicate migration or other behavior).
Current student projects include:
Field study of small
mammals at Smith Creek restoration site - specific student projects
include experiments to re-establish and maintain populations of
endangered shrews (small, echo-locating insectivores) and preliminary
survey of bat species.
Collection and analysis
of dental plaque from fossilized teeth of duckbill dinosaurs to
reconstruct diet.
(With geology undergraduate students)
Observation of burrowing behavior among small
mammals in the laboratory, including filming of digging strategies and
morphometric data collection.
Selected
Publications:
Gobetz, K.E., 2007. New considerations for
interpreting fossilized mammal burrows from observations of living
species. In Lucas, S.G., Spielman, J.A., and Lockley, M. (eds.)
Cenozoic Tracks and Traces, New Mexico Museum of Natural History
Bulletin. 42, 7-9.
Gobetz, K. E. 2006. Possible
burrows of mylagaulids (Rodentia: Aplodontoidea: Mylagaulidae)
from the late Miocene (Barstovian) Pawnee Creek Formation, northeastern
Colorado. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 237,
119-136.
Gobetz, K. E., and Martin, L. D. 2006. Burrows of a
gopher-like rodent, possibly Gregorymys (Geomyoidea: Geomyidae:
Entoptychinae) from the early Miocene Harrison Formation,
Nebraska. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 237,
305-314.
Gobetz, K. E. 2005. Claw impressions on modern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) tunnels as a
means to identify fossil burrows and interpret digging movements.
Ichnos. 12, 227-231.
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