Palaeo After Dark

The gang discusses two papers about encrusting organisms. The first paper looks at evolutionary patterns of bryozoans to infer environmental triggers for shifts in the ways bryozoans calcify. The second paper uses the distribution of encrusting organisms on spirifd brachiopods to infer the ecology of both the encrusters and the brachiopod they grew on top of. Meanwhile, James discovers new foods, Amanda constructs a worm, and Curt gets confused and makes it everyone's problem.   Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition): The friends talk about two papers that look at animals that do not move around much and live stuck to other animals. The first paper looks at a group of animals that grow together with their friends and grow really well on top of other things. This group makes hard parts out of stuff it gets from the water it lives in. When there are changes in ways big rocks move, this changes the types and number of things in the water that can be used to make hard parts, which can make one way of making hard parts easi