Matias Ritter- PhD
- Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Matias Ritter
- PhD
- Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Professor
About
90
Publications
28,869
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
415
Citations
Introduction
Conservation Paleobiology, Quantitative paleoecology, invertebrates, taphonomy, time-averaging.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ObpalH0AAAAJ
Current institution
Additional affiliations
August 2018 - present
March 2014 - March 2018
August 2016 - April 2017
Education
March 2014 - March 2018
March 2012 - February 2014
Publications
Publications (90)
Empty mollusk shells may act as colonization surfaces for sclerobionts depending on the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of the shells. However, the main factors that can affect the establishment of an organism on hard substrates and the colonization patterns on modern and time-averaged shells remain unclear. Using experimental and fie...
Fossil assemblages are expected to be time-averaged as a result of biological and physical processes that mix skeletal remains. Our quantitative understanding of time-averaging derives primarily from actualistic studies, in which direct numerical dating of individual specimens is used to assess the scale and structure of age mixing in death assembl...
Despite advances in understanding planktonic foraminifera environmental interactions, their role as prey remains elusive, often inferred from indirect evidence such as drill holes. Bioerosional traces offer valuable insights into fossil assemblages, although knowledge for planktonic foraminifera remains limited compared with benthic species. This s...
Surficial shell accumulations from shallow marine settings are typically averaged over centennial-to-millennial time scales and dominated by specimens that died in the most recent centuries, resulting in strongly right-skewed age-frequency distributions (AFDs). However, AFDs from modern offshore settings (outer shelf and uppermost continental slope...
The study of sambaquis (ancient shell mounds) in conservation paleobiology is a complicated subject, especially when comparing body sizes of current and past mollusk valves to observe possible changes. There is a lack of information regarding how ancient fisher-gardeners collected these shellfish. Another obstacle is finding the hypothesis tests an...
Conservation paleobiology, an expanding field, employs taphonomy tools to investigate past environmental conditions and organisms before human impacts, thereby addressing key conservation issues. This review examines the concepts, approaches and events in conservation paleobiology, emphasizing aquatic and coastal organisms and the often-overlooked...
Plastic pollution in the ocean has reached alarming levels, being found deposited on the seafloor, floating on the water column, or stranded in beaches. It has been reported in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, forming new sedimentary rocks assuming the appearance of rocky material after being burned, cooled, and transported....
Qual a relação da Geologia com as áreas de risco à inundação?
Neste vídeo, explicamos a história de formação da planície costeira do Rio Grande do Sul e algumas relações com as áreas inundadas no catastrófico evento de maio de 2024.
Baseado em pesquisas realizadas, principalmente, por cientistas do Instituto de Geociências da Universidade Federal...
The southern coastal plain of Rio Grande do Sul state hosts essential fossil records of both marine and terrestrial faunas that have provided invaluable information about the geological and environmental Quaternary history of southern Brazil. These fossils are found in surface and subsurface deposits on sites stretching from the continental shelf u...
El cambio climático global está modificando de modo acelerado las características de los hábitats, y eso tiene un impacto sobre las comunidades que ya se encuentran alteradas por impactos antrópicos anteriores. ¿Cómo eran las comunidades no impactadas? Las únicas evidencias que tenemos están alojadas en los restos de los organismos, hallados sobre...
ABSTRACT
The paleoecological evolution of a peat bog in the Campos region, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, was determined based on an integrated study of stratigraphy, palynology, and geochronology. The peat bog is constituted
of silty-clay material, with high levels of ash (residue on ignition) and organic matter content that was deposited
on a s...
Barreiras costeiras podem exibir uma variedade de características estratigráficas e morfologias, refletindo os fatores condicionantes da sua formação e desenvolvimento atuantes em diferentes escalas temporais (secular e milenar) e espaciais, determinando padrões de empilhamento estratigráfico distintos. Neste trabalho, investiga-se a barreira holoc...
A micropaleontological analysis on 15 beachrock samples from the Northern sector of Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain (RSCP ), southern Brazil , revealed a relatively diverse and well-preserved ostracod assemblage composed of 16 species , including Cyprideis multidentata Hartmann, Callistocythere nucleoperiscum Whatley et al., Cytheretta punctata San...
Promotional poster for the article "Taphonomy and paleoecology of the Lontras Shale Lagerstätte: Detailing the warming peak of a Late Paleozoic Ice Age temperate fjord" (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111326), presented at the XXIII Paleo PR SC
The large data (lithological, geochemical, and paleontological) after 25 years of research in the...
The large data (lithological, geochemical, and paleontological) after 25 years of research in the Campaleo outcrop (Mafra city, Santa Catarina State, Brazil) has allowed a detailed panorama of the paleoecology and paleoenvironment of the Lontras Shale Lagerstätte (LSL). These data reveal an extraordinary fossil occurrence related to a temperate ano...
Fjords are considered biodiversity hotspots and aquatic critical zones, being extremely sensitive to climate change due to close oceanic, terrestrial, and glacial interactions. These ecosystems have received a great deal of attention in research on current and future anthropic impacts. Despite this, there is no analog in the geological record that...
Fjords are considered biodiversity hotspots and aquatic critical zones, being extremely sensitive to climate change due to close oceanic, terrestrial, and glacial interactions. These ecosystems have received a great deal of attention in research on current and future anthropic impacts. Despite this, there is no analog in the geological record that...
The fossil record of bioerosion on rudists is commonly restricted to brief mentions that mainly use general terms and do not constitute detailed ichnological studies. This contribution comprises a detailed study of the bioerosion structures present on the shells of different species of rudists from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Cuba. In a...
Anomalocardia flexuosa is a bivalve that inhabits shallow, low hydrodynamics coastal environments of normal to brackish salinity, currently distributed from the Caribbean up to the state of Santa Catarina (∼28°S) in southern Brazil, but its fossil record extends along the southwestern Atlantic up to ∼40°S, in Argentina. Its absence in southern coas...
Abstract Bathybic ostracods (i.e., bathyal and abyssal assemblages) are important indicators of temperature and productivity changes of Cenozoic marine ecosystems. The present work presents the first study on Quaternary ostracods of the Camamu Basin, off the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazilian continental margin. The analysis of 59 samples from...
The fossil molluscan assemblages found on the shores of Mirim Lake, in southern Brazil and Uruguay, provide information about the environmental changes and geological evolution of that water body. The storm-generated shell deposits at Latinos Spit on the Brazilian shore are dominated by the estuarine bivalve Erodona mactroides,
represented mostly b...
This paper focuses on high-resolution coastal stratigraphy data, which were revealed by the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system. Surveys performed with GPR on the surface of prograded barriers reveal patterns of reflections that allow the interpretation of the geometry and stratig-raphy of coastal deposits in a continuous mode. At the Curumim pro...
The direct carbonate procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS ¹⁴ C) dating of submilligram samples of biogenic carbonate without graphitization is becoming widely used in a variety of studies. We compare the results of 153 paired direct carbonate and standard graphite ¹⁴ C determinations on single specimens of an assortment of b...
In this paper, a reinterpretation of the older ¹⁴C ages of the Pleistocene substrate of the Holocene barrier-lagoon system of three coastal localities in southern Brazil is presented (Hermenegildo, Cassino, and Curumim). Sedimentological, geochronological, palynological, and diatom analyses of a sedimentary deposit formed in an estuarine/shallow ma...
The presentation of Fig. 1 was incorrect.
Planktonic Foraminifera are widely used in paleoceanographic reconstructions, although studies of their trophic interactions are still rare, especially those focusing on predation. Drilling holes are the most frequent traces of bioerosion in foraminifer tests, but environmental factors that control bioerosion are not yet understood. To determine if...
In the Southern Brazil Shelf (SBS), surface bioclastic concentrations are associated with putative paleo-shorelines formed where wave ravinement surfaces are probably present. From the late Last Glacial Maximum, the SBS can be considered a sediment-starved passive margin continental shelf, with its morphostructural development fairly known. There,...
A barreira holocênica da Planície Costeira do Rio Grande do Sul (PCRS) apresenta
diferentes comportamentos ao longo de sua extensão, onde setores costeiros em
acresção (progradacionais) e em erosão (retrogradacionais) coexistem temporalmente e
são passíveis de identificação em subsuperfície através de seus padrões de empilhamento. No Litoral Norte...
Com o objetivo de caracterizar a plataforma interna da porção sul do Rio Grande do Sul sob os aspectos evolutivos durante o Pleistoceno Superior e Holoceno, foram realizados
perfis batimétricos perpendiculares à linha de costa atual e coletas de amostras superficiais para análises sedimentológicas e geocronológicas em duas zonas denominadas: A (reg...
Previous studies point out that old shells are not necessarily old-age shells, despite the huge bunch of age-dated shells available today, but this question appears to be sometimes unsolved or partially misregarded by geoscientists, particularly to those dealing with the Quaternary fossils. In order to clarify this noteworthy question, we accessed...
In the marine realm, the interpretation of taphofacies relies heavily on how oceanographic and sedimentary conditions affect the preservation state of fossils. Several taphonomic variables either covary with depth or are directly influenced by depth. Facies‐level factors rather than broad, basin‐scale parameters influence the taphonomic profile of...
The dynamic physical interval where postmortem alteration of biological remains takes place is widely
known as the taphonomically active zone (TAZ). In benthic systems, the TAZ is conventionally considered to be
delimited by an upper boundary at the sediment-water interface and a lower boundary corresponding roughly to the
deepest sediment layer in...
Embora vista como uma disciplina estritamente acadêmica, onde fósseis e restos biológicos atuais são analisados sob uma lupa, resultando em planilhas complexas, ou então objeto de séries de ficção científica inspiradas na Tafonomia Forense, a Tafonomia busca explicar e quantificar a qualidade do registro fóssil ao longo do tempo, espaço e entre táx...
O termo “mistura temporal” (=temporal mixing) tem sido amplamente empregado como sinônimo de “time-averaging” na literatura científica do Brasil. Embora correlatos, têm significados paleontológicos distintos e, portanto, carecem de uma definição mais precisa. Aqui, apresento uma primeira proposta de distinção formal entre estes dois termos. Esta su...
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
http://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=444
Taphonomic scores of all shells from “Concheiros” Beach, Southern Brazil.
The table presents the raw data of the taphonomic scores of 1,965 shells (58 gastropods and 1,907 bivalve shells) used in this paper. See also S4 Data and S1 Table.
(CSV)
Experimental diagrams employed in both the laboratory and the experimental field steps of the current study.
(A) Zooplankton colonization experiment. Each bowl (20 cm in diameter, 18 cm in height) was filled with estuarine water up to a height of 10 cm and kept at a constant salinity (23±2), temperature (25°C), and photoperiod (14L:10D). These cond...
Biofilm density data used in this paper.
(XLSX)
A more detailed description of the methods used (taphonomic analyses).
(DOCX)
Species employed in the study screening for different external textures.
(A) Amarilladesma mactroides (Reeve 1854), external view. (B) Amarilladesma mactroides, internal view. (C) Mactra isabelleana d'Orbigny 1846, external view. (D) Mactra isabelleana, internal view. (E) Anadara brasiliana (Lamarck 1819), external view. (F) Anadara brasiliana, int...
Multiple regression analysis between bacterial density (bact cm-2) and zooplankton colonization density (org 25 cm-2) regarding the external ornamentation of shells.
(TIF)
Raw data on zooplankton abundance used in the analyses in this study.
(XLSX)
Taphonomic protocol utilized in this study.
(DOCX)
Size-frequency distributions for each mollusk class collected.
(A) Gastropoda. (B) Bivalvia.
(TIF)
Total taphonomic grade (percentage damage index) of intrinsic measured variables in Bivalvia.
The box plots are showing interquartile range, the 95% confidence intervals and the outliers. (A) Size class. (B) External ornamentation. (C) Mineralogy. (D). Life mode. All p-values were obtained from the Kruskal-Wallis Test. Und.: undetermined.
(TIF)
Total taphonomic grade (percentage damage index) of the intrinsically measured variables in Gastropoda.
The box plots are showing the interquartile range, the 95% confidence intervals and the outliers. (A) Size class. (B) Life mode. (C) External ornamentation. All p-values were obtained from the Kruskal-Wallis Test. Und.: undetermined.
(TIF)
Total taphonomic grade (percentage damage index) among Bivalvia species.
The box plots are showing the interquartile range, the 95% confidence intervals and the outliers. Bivalvia genera: Ama.: Amalarillodesma, Ami.: Amiantis, Ana.: Anadara, Bra.: Brachidontes, Chls: Chlamys, Cra.: Crassostrea, Don.: Donax, Gly.: Glycymeris, Lae.: Laevicardium, Mac...
Total taphonomic grade (percentage damage index) among Gastropod species.
The box plots are showing the interquartile range, the 95% confidence intervals and the outliers. Gastropoda genera: Ade.: Adelomelon, Buc.: Buccinanops, Cre.: Crepidula, Epi.: Epitonium, Oli.: Olivancillaria, Psa.: Psania, Sin.: Sinum. (B). p-value was obtained from the Krus...
The processes of alteration of biological information acting during the incorporation of dead remains to the fossil record can be determined from the damage type present. Such features, called taphonomic signatures, are directly related to environmental factors operating right after death and during the residence time of bioclasts in the sediment,...
Fossil assemblages are expected to be time-averaged due to temporal (and spatial) mixing of skeletal remains. Our quantitative understanding of time-averaging derives primarily from actualistic studies, in which direct numerical dating of individual specimens is used to assess the scale and structure of age mixing in surficial death assemblages (in...
OPERATOR BIAS AND REPLICABILITY IN COMPARATIVE TAPHONOMIC STUDIES. The operator effect is a well-known analytical bias already quantified in some taphonomic studies. However, the influence of operator bias in the replicability on taphonomic studies has still not been considered. Here, we quantified for the first time this bias using different multi...
Taphonomy is defined as the Paleontological discipline that studies how biological information changes from life assemblages toward fossil assemblages. Taphonomy has recently been utilized in several statistic frameworks, and has improved new theories about the fossil record in recent analog environments. Here we present an extensive review of the...
The South America southern coast exhibits many outcrops with abundant shell beds, from the Pleistocene through the Recent. How much biological information is preserved within these shell beds? Or, what is the actual probability a living community has to leave a fossil record corresponding to these shell deposits? Although ecological and biogeograph...
When the young Charles Darwin explored the Atlantic coast of southern South America, he was impressed by its fossils—as he wrote in the first paragraph of the Origin of Species (1859) —and the magnitude of its “wide and desolate” plains (Darwin 1839, p. 124). Although his adventures on the Patagonian plains became more famous, Darwin’s first observ...
O intervalo físico dinâmico onde ocorrem os processos de alteração de remanescentes biológicos é
denominado Zona Tafonomicamente Ativa (ZTA, do inglês Taphonomically Active Zone; Olszewski
1999). Adicionalmente, o tempo que os restos biogênicos permanecem na ZTA é importante para
determinar o grau de mistura de idades (time-averaging) a que esses i...
A formação de depósitos conchíferos expressivos (shell beds) em sistemas marinhos e costeiros de margem passiva e sua relação com padrões tafonômicos são bem documentados (Kidwell, 1986, 1991; Fursich & Oschmann, 1993). Contudo, para os ambientes sedimentares transicionais, como lagunas e estuários, a relação entre a formação de uma shell bed e a s...
An underlying and important question in taphofacies studies is how much the oceanographic and sedimentary conditions do influence the preservation state of fossils. Some actualistic work have shown that the taphonomic profile of death assemblages are controlled rather by site (or facies)-level factors than large-scale parameters. Experiments and Re...
While low sedimentation rates favor the formation of fossil concentrations, by lowering the sedimentary dilution of dead remains, it can also enhance the destruction at the sediment-water interface, by prolonging the residence of fossils in the taphonomically active zone (TAZ). Shelly (mollusk) concentrations in the marine realm are associated to s...
Os depósitos marinhos apresentam um comportamento tafonômico distinto ao longo de sistemas deposicionais e tratos de sistemas no ambiente marinho. Por exemplo, o registro tafonômico de concentrações conchíferas expressivas formadas no inicio do Trato de Sistemas Transgressivo é diferente do registrado no final da transgressão. Contudo, para os ambi...
Ao caminhar pela praia, é comum encontrarmos remanescentes biológicos de animais marinhos. Entre eles destacam-se as conchas de moluscos. Assumimos intuitivamente que essas conchas são o registro fiel de indivíduos que viveram em áreas marinhas próximas e que elas foram transportadas até a praia pelas ondas após a morte do molusco. No entanto, as c...
The southern Brazilian continental shelf includes several surficial sandy biodetritic deposits, distributed parallel to the present coastline and composed of time-averaged molluscan shells with a minimum age range from 0 to17 ka. These shell beds are transgressive lag deposits (associated with transgressive systems tracts and condensed sections) fo...
Molluscan shell accumulations (shell beds) are very common in shallow marine and estuarine environments in South America and also on the continental shelf of Argentina and southern Brazil. These shell beds are restricted to the Quaternary and can provide an excellent opportunity for taphonomic studies. In previous papers, it has been shown that dis...
Conchas de moluscos podem atuar como nicho ecológico para invertebrados, servindo de substrato à colonização. Este estudo comparou o padrão de assentamento de larvas em conchas de quatro espécies de bivalves, com diferentes texturas, com o objetivo de avaliar se há seletividade no processo de incrustação pelas larvas de invertebrados. Um experiment...
The South America southern coast exhibits many outcrops with abundant shell beds, from the Pleistocene through the Recent. How much biological information is preserved within these shell beds? Or, what is the actual probability a living community has to leave a fossil record corresponding to these shell deposits? Although ecological and biogeograph...
Molluscan shell accumulations (shell beds) are very common in shallow marine and estuarine environments in South America and also on the continental shelf between Argentina and southern Brazil. The development of these shell beds is restricted to the Quaternary, and can provide a great opportunity for taphonomic studies, which are rare in this geog...
RESUMO: O objetivo do presente estudo foi quantificar o grau de percepção ambiental de alunos de diferentes faixas etárias e de diferentes níveis de escolaridade em relação à sua inserção na Natureza. Um questionário estruturado foi aplicado em uma amostra de 20% do total de alunos visitantes do Museu de Ciências Naturais do CECLIMAR, totalizando 6...
Considera-se Natureza tudo o que cerca o ser humano, incluindo ele próprio e suas
construções. O objetivo do presente estudo foi quantificar a Percepção Ambiental de alunos de
diferentes faixas etárias em relação a sua inserção na Natureza. A hipótese foi que a idade e o
grau de escolaridade têm influência direta sobre a Percepção Ambiental. Portan...
The Tafonomically Active Zone (TAZ) of marine environments is well described and understood, primarily from tropical shelf carbonates. Based on quantitative analysis of signature taphonomic (encrustation, dissolution, corrosion, out texture, size e oxidation), recorded in shells of Erodona mactroides, in two Holocene shell beds of the north coastal...
