Josh Miller likes to call himself a conservation paleobiologist. The label makes sense when he explains how he uses bones as up-to-last-season information on contemporary animal populations.
Bones, he says, provide baseline ecological data on animals complementary to aerial counts, adding a historical component to live observation. In his November cover article for the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecology, he assesses elk habitat use in Yellowstone National Park by their bones and antlers, testing his method against several decades of the Park Service's meticulous observations. Read more--- Complete press release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/esoa-ebt120712.php Longer story on ESA's blog: http://www.esa.org/esablog/research/elk-bones-tell-stories-of-life-death-and-habitat-use-at-yellowstone-national-park/ Spatial fidelity of skeletal remains: elk wintering and calving grounds revealed by bones on the Yellowstone landscape (2012) Joshua H. Miller. Ecology 93:11, 2474-2482 http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-0272.1 __________________________ __________________________ Liza Lester Communications Officer Ecological Society of America 1990 M Street, NW Suite 700 Washington DC 20036 202.833.8773 ext. 211 202.833.8775 Fax [email protected] http://www.esa.org/esablog/ http://www.facebook.com/esa.org tweeting @esa_org ----------------------------------------------
