1. Determining the Effect of Bryozoan Body Size Evolution from Fragmentation Data
By: Ali Sultan, Michael Mullen, Hothaifah Othman
Mentor: Dr. Philip Novack-Gottshall
Department of Biological Sciences, Benedictine University,  5700 College Road,  Lisle, IL 60532,
- This is a typical fragment of Heterotrypa frondosa. (6.3 cubic cm3 in volume)
Description of Organisms
The Bryozoan phylum consists of colonial, aquatic invertebrate animals commonly found in tropical marine environments. They have a 450-million-year temporal range that starts in the early Ordovician and continues to recent times. Colonies range from one centimeter to over one meter, but the majority of the colonies are only about 10 centimeters. However, most fossilized colonies are not fully intact and they have provided difficulties in figuring out their intact colony sizes until now. Here we test to see the relationship between fragment fossils and colony sizes.
Abstract
-R Studio
-Microsoft Office
-Image J
-Documents featured on pg. 14 of International Bryozoology Association Bulletin Volume 2, Number 1 - January 2006
Materials
By looking at the documents featured in the International Bryozoology Association Bulletin, we gathered body size data of the organisms. If body sizes were not given, we found body size based on the featured pictures using Image J. Once body sizes were found, we used Microsoft Excel to enter data into a master spreadsheet. Using R Studio and Microsoft Excel we created graphs to find the relationship between colony sizes and fragment sizes.
Methods
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that as fragment sizes increase, the overall body size of the colony increased equivalently. We also added the data we collected to previously collected Bryozoan size data. Through the addition of our new body size data, we found that colony sizes are shown to be much larger than initially believed.
-This a piece of the largest known bryozoan fossil found of Heterotrypa frondosa. (762 mm3 in volume)
-Overall, the trend of the Bryozoans were relatively small, ranging between 0 to -2.
-After adding in new data, Bryozoan sizes increased to remain stable around -1 to 1.
-Overall the general trend of the Bryozoans shows increased colony size with larger fragment size.
Data Analysis
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Philip Novack-Gottshall for bringing us on his research team to conduct this study in an area of Bryozoology which is not commonly researched. We would also like to thank Dr. Philip Novack-Gottshall for all his efforts and guiding us on the right path of scientific study. We would like to thank the following researchers for their aid in inquiry for this study…
Dr. Roger Cuffey - Department of Geosciences - Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Dr. Franz T. Fürsich - GeoZentrum Nordbayern - Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Dr. Kent Kirkby - Department of Earth Sciences - University of Minnesota