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Life In A Temperate Polar Sea: A Unique Taphonomic Window On The Structure Of A Late Cretaceous Arctic Marine Ecosystem
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Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry Article Date: 20 Aug 2008 - 2:00 PDTFossils from Devon Island in the High Canadian Arctic provide a glimpse of a marine community that inhabited a more temperate Arctic, around 73 million years ago. Fossil fish, marine reptiles, sponges, bivalves, and crustaceans, along with numerous coprolites (fossil feces) and dense accumulations of planktonic fossils paint a picture of a productive nearshore ecosystem in an Arctic that apparently lacked year-round ice, but was still subject to seasonal extremes in daylight. Fossil wood and pollen in the marine sediments suggest that this productive ecosystem was at least partially fueled by organic debris shed by ancient Arctic conifer forests.is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.
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Canadian Museum of Nature or Victoria Memorial Museum Building Scientists of the United Kingdom-based Royal Society released a paper August 1, 2008 which studied Cretaceous era fossil finds found at the northern area of Devon Island in the 1980s. ''Nunavutospongia irregulara'' is the name of the new species of sponge found, released by Proceedings B the Royal Society's biological research journal. 

Thick bones and armour-like scales have been found that are believed to belong to a new species of fish which grew up to two meters long. Thousands of fossilized feces - termed coprolites - both small and as large as an arm have been found. Coral reef fossils, conifer wood debris, fossil wood chunks and thousands of plankton and microbes have been found both at Devon Island and Beechy Island. Beechy Island is connected to Devon Island during times of low tide.

Two areas on Devon Island about 30 kilometres apart are providing Cretaceous fossil finds, and each is kilometres in length. These areas are khaki-coloured valley greensands rich in fossil beds, which provide a peek at life 73 million years ago. During the Cretaceous Devon Island was located in a position with a warmer climate, large trees grew north of Baffin Island, and plesiosaurs, ichthyodectid fish, and sharks roamed the waters of the Arctic. Devon Island was submerged under warm water in the Cretaceous period, when the island was situated hundreds of kilometres south of its current location due to continental drift. 

At the upper Kanguk Formation, the fossil finds represent offshore and near-shore sedimentary deposits on an ocean floor. The warmer temperate waters supported benthic invertebrates (organisms such as larva that live on the bottom of a water body) and large predatory vertebrates. Whereas life is currently supported by nutrients from the sea ice, Cretaceous sea life was supported by terrigenous resources from forested landscapes.

The eight-member team from the Royal Society consists of Canadian, United States and Polish researchers. The fossil specimens are held at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa on behalf of the Nunavut territorial government.