Jeremy L. Green Ph.D. student North Carolina State University Department of Marine, Earth, Atmospheric Sciences Chair:  Dr. Mary Schweitzer CoChair: Dr. Julia Clarke

My research incorporates vertebrate paleoecology, paleobiology, and taphonomy.  I am using dental microwear analysis to estimate the diet of extant xenarthrans (modern tree sloths, armadillos), to form a baseline from which paleodiet of extinct xenarthrans (ground sloths, glyptodonts, pampatheres, etc.) can be estimated.  I will use these data in a second aspect of my research, which involves reconstructing the paleoecology of Triassic dicynodonts (non-mammalian therapsids). To better understand the paleobiology i.e., growth patterns, life history, and physiology) of the latter group, I am analyzing long bone histology and growth patterns in Triassic dicynodonts from North America (i.e., Placerias hesternus and a new specimen from North Carolina).  I am also describing a new dicynodont from the Late Triassic of North Carolina.  Finally, my research includes estimating the extent of diagenetic alteration of fossil bone (via Electron Microprobe Analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) from a Late Triassic terrestrial locality in North Carolina.