Phone: 979.845.3071
Fax: 979.845.6162 Webpage
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Texas A&M University
Halbouty Building 166
Department of Geology and Geophysics, MS 3115, College Station, Texas 77843
My main research interest includes understanding the relationship between local and regional diversity in order to elucidate the processes that govern the diversity of ecological communities through geologic history. The fossil record provides the only natural historical account of changes in the diversity of ecological communities in Earth’s past prior to human influences and also provides a temporal perspective that is unavailable when studying modern ecological communities.
I am currently assessing local and regional brachiopod diversity during the Middle Permian (~265 million years ago) in the Delaware Basin with samples collected from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas. An improved understanding of the interplay between community-level processes and regional biotas will provide more accurate interpretations and predictions of the dynamics controlling global diversity patterns in the fossil record.
Publication
Fall, L. M., and Olszewski, T. D. 2010. Environmental disruptions influence taxonomic composition of brachiopod paleocommunities in the Middle Permian Bell Canyon Formation (Delaware Basin, west Texas): Palaios 25:247–259.
Alroy, J., Aberhan, M., Bottjer, D.J., Foote, M., Fürsich, F.T., Harries, P., Hendy, A.J.W., Holland, S.M., Ivany, L.C., Kiessling, W., Kosnik, M.A., Marshall, C.R., McGowan, A.J., Miller, A.I., Olszewski, T.D., Patzkowsky, M.E., Peters, S.E., Villier, L., Wagner, P.J., Bonuso, N., Borkow, P.S., Brenneis, B., Clapham, M.E., Fall, L.M., Ferguson, C.A., Hanson, V.L., Krug, A.Z., Layou, K.M., Leckey, E.H., Nürnberg, S., Powers, C.M., Sessa, J.A., Simpson, C., Tomasovych, A., and Visaggi, C.C. 2008. Phanerozoic trends in the global diversity of marine invertebrates. Science 321:97–100.
Fall, L. M., and Steinmetz, J. C. 2008. Bibliography of Indiana Paleontology, 1831 through 2006: Indiana Geological Survey Occasional Paper 68, 91 p., CD.
Abstracts
Fall, L.M., and Olszewski, T.D. 2009. Changes in Ecological Processes of Local Brachiopod Paleocommunities in the Delaware Basin (West Texas): Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 41(7):507.
Fall, L.M., and Olszewski, T.D. 2009. Consistency in Ecological Processes of Local Brachiopod Paleocommunities in the Delaware Basin (West Texas): 9th North American Paleontological Convention Abstracts, no. 3:426.
Fall, L.M., and Olszewski, T.D. 2008. Diversity dynamics of brachiopods in the Delaware Basin (West Texas) prior to the end-Guadalupian extinction: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 40(6):403.
Fall, L.M., Olszewski, T.D., and Marcus, S.A. 2006. Reef to basin sedimentological processes in the Lamar Limestone (Bell Canyon Formation), Guadalupe Mountains National Park, West Texas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 38(7):74.
Fall, L.M. 2005. Famennian rugose corals live it up: increased longevity of rugose corals following the end-Frasnian extinction. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 37(7):384.
Fall, L.M. 2004. Utilizing changes in generic diversity of rugose and scleractinian corals as indicators of modern reef extinction. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 36(5):365.
Fall, L.M., Kauffman, E.G., and Johnson, C.C. 2002. Quantification of coiling in rudist bivalves. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):538.
Johnson, C.C., Fall, L.M., Jamet, C.M., and Slade, L.L. 2001. Stratigraphic and paleobiologic analysis of thrombolite megastructures, St. Louis Limestone, Monroe County, Indiana. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(6):A12.
Fall, L.M., and Johnson, C.C. 2000. Evaluation of methods for morphometric analyses of rudist bivalves: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 32(7):A13.
Awards
2010 Marathon Scholarship, Department of Geology and Geophysics, $12,000, Texas A&M
2009 Questar Scholarship, Department of Geology and Geophysics, $5,000, Texas A&M
2009 First place (Ph.D. research), Third Annual Geology and Geophysics Research Symposium
2008 ConocoPhillips Fellowship, Department Geology and Geophysics
2008 First place (Ph.D. research), Second Annual Geology and Geophysics Research Symposium
2007 ConocoPhillips Fellowship, Department Geology and Geophysics
2007 First place, First Annual Paleontological Society Student Poster Award, GSA Annual Meeting
2006 Chevron Fellowship, Department Geology and Geophysics
Research Grants
2006 Geological Society of America Student Research Grant (Ph.D. research)
2006 Paleontological Society Grant (Ph.D. research)
2006 Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid of Research (Ph.D. research)
2000 Geological Society of America Student Research Grant (M.S. research)
2000 Paleontological Society Grants-In-Aid (M.S. research)
2000 Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid of Research (M.S. research)
Research Facilities
