Dinosaur Fossils: Lichen Discovery via Drone Technology

Drones are used to detect lichen on dinosaur bones, potentially speeding up fossil discoveries. Two lichen species prefer dinosaur bones over rock, aiding paleontologists in locating new fossil areas in western Canada.

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Pickles and his associates next determined light frequencies mirrored by the rock, bones and bone-inhabiting lichen and tested whether they could differentiate the lichen from these surroundings utilizing drones. Spectral analyses discovered the lichen mainly reflected particular infrared light regularities, which the researchers then used to develop drone sensing units that can spot this light from above.

Lichen’s Preference for Dinosaur Bones

Dinosaur bones covered in lichen have actually long been recognized to paleontologists working in desert fossil hotspots of western North America. In 1979, a likewise tinted lichen was reported growing over a Centrosaurus bonebed in the exact same area.

Lichens often tend to be fairly particular about where they expand, says AJ Deneka, a lichenologist at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, that was not included with the study. Variety that grow on granite do not grow on sandstone or limestone and types that grow on wood do not grow on rock.

“Instead of locating brand-new sites serendipitously, this approach can assist paleontologists to find brand-new areas that are likely to have fossils at the surface area and then go there to check out,” claims paleontologist Brian Pickles at the College of Reading in England.

Drone Technology for Fossil Detection

In the badlands of western Canada, two species of lichen choose making their homes on dinosaur bones as opposed to on the surrounding desert rock, and their distinctive orange color can be found by drones, potentially aiding future dino discoveries, scientists report November 3 in Current Biology.

By scrutinizing vibrantly tinted lichen and where it grows in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Pickles and his associates discovered that two types of lichen, Rusavskia elegans and Xanthomendoza trachyphylla, had a strict choice for colonizing fossil bones and were virtually entirely missing from surrounding ironstone rock.

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Historical Context of Lichen on Fossils

Dinosaur bones covered in lichen have actually long been known to paleontologists working in desert fossil hotspots of western North America. In 1922, paleontologists discovered an Ankylosaurus fossil covered in orange lichen in the Canadian badlands. In 1979, an in a similar way tinted lichen was reported growing over a Centrosaurus bonebed in the same location. The orange-colored symbiote is often the initial point researchers discover when working in these areas, with the discovery of bone coming second.