Research

Research

CBRC encourages students and faculty from the State of Indiana, and researchers from across the world, to use the specimens in the IU Paleontology Collection and to engage now with our digital databases.

Our collections are here to encourage and facilitate inquiry-based science and to push the boundaries of understanding to reveal Earth’s biological evolution. Our active research efforts serve to promote long-term preservation and stewardship of natural history specimens and associated metadata.   

Here we introduce research projects from our CBRC graduate and undergraduate students. We feature our IUPC collections of conulariids, rugose corals, scleractinian corals, and sharks. For each featured collection we include the name and natural history of the group, photos and videos of specimens featured in our IU Paleontology Collection, a condensed spreadsheet of the IUPC holding of the groups, and for most, a map of the State of Indiana highlighting localities of the specimens. 

The Corals of Indiana

Here we have a brief description of rugose coral fossils, a group of extinct corals prevalent during the Paleozoic Era. This description includes how they looked and varied between one another, how they are preserved, their evolution, rugose corals in our State of Indiana, and the rugose corals that are represented in our collections. We have 3D scans of some of the best examples of the different morphotypes and preservation types of rugose corals in our collections for you to view.

IUPC Scleractinian Corals and Their Importance in Our World Today

Here we have a brief description of scleractinian corals, the corals that compose our modern coral reefs. This description includes what scleractinian corals are, their evolution, the scleractinian coral specimens in our collections, and their current conservation status, threats, and conservation efforts. We have 3D scans of some of our modern scleractinian coral specimens highlighting distinct types of corals in our collections for you to view.

The Terrific Trilobites

Trilobites were among the earliest members of the Phylum Arthropoda, a group that includes a vast array of animals with hard exoskeletons and segmented bodies. Emerging during the Cambrian Explosion, a period of rapid evolution and diversification of multicellular life, trilobites are now extinct, but their legacy lives on in their modern arthropod relatives. These relatives include crustaceans like crabs and lobsters, chelicerates such as horseshoe crabs and spiders, and insects. By studying trilobites and their lifestyles, paleontologists can gain insights into the evolution of arthropod biology and ecology, and conversely, understanding modern arthropods can shed light on the lives of ancient trilobites.