Morphology, Function and Systematics in Upper Carboniferous Ammonoids

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It is possible to analyze fossil shelled cephalopods in terms of external shell morphology and hydromechanical characteristics, using microcomputer simulations and principal components analysis. This approach will be combined with indexing of internal sutural form, in order to (a) document the morphological history of Upper Carboniferous ammonoids in terms of whole-shell and hydromechanical characteristics; (b) determine whether there is a functional basis to existing phylogenetic-based systematic schemes for Carboniferous ammonoids; (c) attempt to determine the extent to which sutural form influences ammonoid hydrostatics, and to track changes in sutural complexity against shell form and hydrostatics through time, in an effort to evaluate the functional role of the suture and (d) relate the evolutionary history and diversity of morphological and hydromechanical characteristics of Upper Carboniferous ammonoids to existing models of paleoecology and sea- level curves for this interval.