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Selina R. (Lena) Cole
Department / Division
Education
- B.Sc., James Madison University
- Ph.D., The Ohio State University
- A.A., Danville Community College
Additional Resources
Have a look at Lena's Research Site here.
Curatorial Discipline
Fossil Crinoids; Paleozoic Invertebrates
Research Interests
Lena is a research geologist and curator of fossil crinoids and other fossil invertebrates at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. After receiving her PhD from The Ohio State University in 2017, Lena completed postdoctoral fellowships at the NMNH (2017-2018) and American Museum of Natural History (2018-2020). Her research uses the marine invertebrate fossil record to understand macroevolutionary patterns and their driving processes. In particular, Lena is an expert on fossil crinoids (Echinodermata; feather stars and sea lilies) and has described over 20 new crinoid species. Crinoid taxonomy and systematics constitutes a major part of her research, and she frequently uses the fossil record of crinoids as a model group for studying macroevolutionary questions. Research questions she focuses on primarily relate to (1) extinction, including extinction risk, recovery, and evolutionary consequences of mass extinctions and (2) community paleoecology, including the assembly and phylogenetic structure of communities and how they change through time.
Publications
- Cole, Selina R. 2022. "Early echinoderms decouple form and function." Nature Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01664-8.
- Fawcett, Susan, Agosti, Donat, Cole, Selina R., and Wright, David F. 2022. "Digital accessible knowledge: Mobilizing legacy data and the future of taxonomic publishing." Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists, 1, (1). https://doi.org/10.18061/bssb.v1i1.8296.
- Cole, Selina R. 2021. "Hierarchical controls on extinction selectivity across the diplobathrid crinoid phylogeny." Paleobiology, 47, (Special Issue 2) 251–270. (Phylogenetic Paleoecology) https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2019.37.
- Cole, Selina R. and Hopkins, Melanie J. 2021. "Selectivity and the effect of mass extinctions on disparity and functional ecology." Science Advances, 7, (19). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf4072.
- Ausich, William I., Wright, David F., Cole, Selina R., and Sevastopulo, George D. 2020. "Homology of posterior interray plates in crinoids: a review and new perspectives from phylogenetics, the fossil record and development." Palaeontology, 63, (4) 525–545. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12475.
- Cole, Selina R., Ausich, William, I., and Wilson, Mark A. 2020. "A Hirnantian Holdover from the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction: Phylogeny and Biogeography of a New Anthracocrinid Crinoid from Estonia." Papers in Palaeontology, https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1345.
- Cole, Selina R., Wright, David F., Ausich, William I., and Koniecki, Joseph M. 2020. "Paleocommunity composition, relative abundance, and new camerate crinoids from the Brechin Lagerstatte (Upper Ordovician)." Journal of Paleontology, 94, (6) 1103–1123. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2020.32.
- Wright, David F., Cole, Selina R., and Ausich, William I. 2020. "Biodiversity, systematics, and new taxa of cladid crinoids from the Ordovician Brechin Lagerstätte." Journal of Paleontology, 94, (2) 334–357. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.81.
- Zamora, Samuel, Wright, David F., Mooi, Rich, Lefebvre, Bertrand, Guensburg, Thomas E., Gorzelak, Przemysław, David, Bruno, Sumrall, Colin D., Cole, Selina R., Hunter, Aaron W., Sprinkle, James, Thompson, Jeffrey R., Ewin, Timothy A. M., Fatka, Oldřich, Nardin, Elise, Reich, Mike, Nohejlová, Martina, and Rahman, Imran A. 2020. "Re-evaluating the phylogenetic position of the enigmatic early Cambrian deuterostome Yanjiahella." Nature Communications, 11, (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14920-x.
- Cole, Selina R. 2019. "Phylogeny and evolutionary history of diplobathrid crinoids (Echinodermata)." Palaeontology, 62, (3) 357–373. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12401.
- Cole, Selina R. and Toom, Ursula. 2019. "New camerate crinoid genera from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) of Estonia: evolutionary origin of family Opsiocrinidae and a phylogenetic assessment of Ordovician Monobathrida." Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 17, (7) 597–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2018.1447519.
- Cole, Selina R., Wright, David F., and Ausich, William I. 2019. "Phylogenetic community paleoecology of one of the earliest complex crinoid faunas (Brechin Lagerstatte, Ordovician)." Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 521 82–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.02.006.
- Ausich, William, I., Wright, David F., Cole, Selina R., and Koniecki, Joseph M. 2018. "Disparid and hybocrinid crinoids (Echinodermata) from the Upper Ordovician (lower Katian) Brechin Lagerstatte of Ontario." Journal of Paleontology, 92, (5) 850–871. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2017.154.
- Cole, Selina R., Ausich, William I., Wright, David F., and Koniecki, Joseph M. 2018. "An echinoderm Lagerstätte from the Upper Ordovician (Katian), Ontario: taxonomic re-evaluation and description of new dicyclic camerate crinoids." Journal of Paleontology, 92, (3) 488–505. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2017.151.
- Cole, Selina R. 2017. "Phylogeny and morphologic evolution of the Ordovician Camerata (Class Crinoidea, Phylum Echinodermata)." Journal of Paleontology, 91, (04) 815–828. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2016.137.
- Cole, Selina R., Ausich, William I., Colmenar, Jorge, and Zamora, Samuel. 2017. "Filling the Gondwanan gap: paleobiogeographic implications of new crinoids from the Castillejo and Fombuena formations (Middle and Upper Ordovician, Iberian Chains, Spain)." Journal of Paleontology, 91, (4) 715–734. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2016.135.
- Wright, David F., Ausich, William I., Cole, Selina R., Peter, Mark E., and Rhenberg, Elizabeth C. 2017. "Phylogenetic taxonomy and classification of the Crinoidea (Echinodermata)." Journal of Paleontology, 91, (4) 829–846. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2016.142.