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Scientific Research
Major Research Orientations at Parc national de Miguasha
Having extensive knowledge of the parks to better preserve them is the foundation that justifies the efforts invested in inventories, monitoring programs and scientific research. At Parc national de Miguasha, the research is based on systematic archaeological digs. These digs aim to collect new specimens, but also to accumulate a maximum of information about these fossils, such as their position and orientation in the cliff. These fossils and this information help with:
- Documenting the ecological and environmental framework that may have facilitated the transition from water to land in vertebrates
- Studying the embryonic development of certain fish species thanks to the unusual presence of larvae and juveniles.
- Interpreting the unique assemblages of fish fossils, all preserved in the same location on the cliff.
- Studying the aquatic environment in which the fish lived through geochemical studies to better understand the sources of sediments that form the cliff and the salinity of the aquatic environment that once covered the land.
- Understanding the biological cycles and the mass mortalities in the Devonian paleoenvironment of Miguasha.
Find out more about scientific research in the Québec's National Parks network
Did you know?
There are lots of discoveries and surprises in store when studying a high-profile species
The Miguasha fossil site is renowned for its cases of exceptional fossilization, including the preservation of a series of ontogenesis or fossil growth episodes. These specimens of various sizes represent different stages of development for the same species, including larvae, juveniles, and adults. By ordering such a series of specimens according to size, it is possible to describe the growth of a fossil organism. The interest in studying the growth of a species that has been extinct for millions of years lies in the fact that the new morphological features that appear during the evolution of living beings are caused by changes in development. When these changes are transmitted from generation to generation, they persist in time and become typical characteristics of living organisms.
A series of growth episodes of the Bothriolepis canadensis placoderm fish
Thus, an ongoing research project focuses on various aspects of the development of the Bothriolepis canadensis placoderm fish, the most abundant species in the fossiliferous formation. The research partnership between Parc national de Miguasha, Université du Québec à Rimouski, and the Natural History Museum of London triggers new discoveries concerning this fish, which has been under the scrutiny of paleontologists for more than a century and about which we thought we knew everything. Finally, despite decades of study, it must be acknowledged that a number of mysteries remain hidden under the solid armour of Bothriolepis canadensis. We still have a whole lot more to learn from the Miguasha site!