The Paleontological Association yearly conference is a “must go to” event where researchers from all over the world showcase their latest work. PalAss21 was hosted by the team (myself included) from The University of Manchester, with Dr. Robert Sansom and Dr. Russell Garwood taking on the gargantuan task of finally hosting one of the first in-person conferences of the ongoing pandemic. So, we all crossed our particular palaeontological interests’ digits and hoped - distal radials, fin radials, claws, fingers... Unfortunately, but wholly understandably, due to the evolution and emergence of new COVID-19 variations, the decision to make the annual meeting a solely online one was taken.
This years conference kicked off with a workshop on “Social Justice in Palaeontology: Case Studies & Future Actions” hosted by Emma Dunne and Nussaïbah B. Raja. Due to prior work commitments I was unable to attend, however I was told by attendees that it was extremely interesting. This workshop covered numerous topics including the current ethical and legal issues in the field of palaeontology, as well as running focus groups to help identify and come up with solutions regarding ethics and the decolonisation of this field.
The second day (18th December) began with a symposium led by six researchers from around the globe on ‘The Problem of Problematica: pushing the limits of the fossil record’. Problematica are organisms that defy classification and are classified as such because of a variety of reasons - which may include but are not limited to: poor preservation, only isolated bits of the organism found, and specimens that bear no resemblance to any extant organisms. One quote stood out from this symposium which was “Problematica are puzzles not problems” from Derek Briggs’ talk, which I wholeheartedly agree with.
That evening we were entertained once again by the PalaeoVision Fossil Contest, which debuted last year during the Oxford PalAss Meeting. As someone who loves both Eurovision and Fossils,
I was very excited to watch this years cluster of entries. The team at Oxford organised and ran this year’s PalaeoVision.
We had entries on Mammoths (Oxford University Museum of Natural History), a death-metal Quetzalcoatlus (IPANEMA - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle), Wonderchicken (CambUP Earth and Environmental Science), Orthoceras (Future Palaeontologists of India), Thectardis (Museum of Zoology, Cambridge) and Belemnites (the Palaeobiology Master's Program at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität ). I certainly couldn’t pick a winner from this stellar line-up. Overall with the most votes was PalaeoFAU for their amazing video featuring Mr Belemnite.
The third day (19th December) was filled with talks and poster sessions. I am always impressed and excited by the large diversity of research currently being undertaken within the field and then presented at these conferences. Each session was a series of live talks chaired by a member of the host team. Here, I must confess to getting quite excited by the publication of the conference abstract, pouring over the sessions and planning which talks to attend. I am reliably informed (by my dad) that the feeling is like going through the Christmas edition of the Radio Times in the days before Amazon Prime, Netflix and the other distractions we have now. The first session I chose was on “Mesozoic Life”, where I listened to talks ranging from Late Triassic archaeosaurs from Wales, pterosaur feathers and the etymology of dinosaurs. The second session I attended was on “Comparative Morphology and Feeding”. In this I learnt about a variety of different techniques such as multivariate dental topographic metrics as well as different aspects that can influence morphology such as insular gigantism and ontogeny.
That evening was rounded off with the Annual Address, this year by Prof. Emily Rayfield from the University of Bristol, entitled “Decoding the evolution of form and function in the fossil record: why are animals shaped the way they are?”. In this talk she explained that by using physical principles it could be determined how a structure (e.g. a bone or muscle) may have functioned and how the organism would therefore interact with its environment. She illustrated this with two early Jurassic aged mammaliaformes from Wales - Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium, which, despite being similar sized, had different shaped jaws suggestive of different food sources. I found this talk to be extremely interesting and learnt a lot of new information about the jaw joint in mammals.
The fourth day (20th December) for me was cut short half way due to a family event, however I did catch a few sessions before having to leave. The first of which was “Climate, Environment and Conservation”. In this session there were talks on a diversity of topics including the Siberian Traps, a second ‘Great American Biotic Interchange’ and foraminifera. The second session I managed to squeeze in before having to leave was on the “Cenozoic Life”. This was my “must-see” session due to my declared love and deep fascination with everything Cenozoic. Here, the talks ranged from ratite eggshells in India, limb bone growth methods, Taeniodont dentition and Styriofelis (a Miocene felid from Europe).
Once again, the PalAss Annual meeting was amazing and for me, the quality of research from my fellow palaeontologists across the globe just keeps getting better and their willingness to share and discuss their findings fills me with hope for the field. I want to say a huge “thank you” to Rob and the rest of the team at Manchester, for organising and making this year’s PalAss so enjoyable.
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