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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Andrew McCoy

  • B.Sc. (University of Victoria, 2023)
Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Science

Topic

Comparing planktic foraminifer databases via evolutionary metrics and the FAIR data Principles

School of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Date & location

  • Friday, August 7, 2026
  • 10:00 A.M.
  • Clearihue Building, Room B017

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Andy Fraass, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
  • Dr. Victoria Arbour, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UVic (Member)
  • Dr. Jocelyn Sessa, Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University (Outside Member)

External Examiner

  • Dr. Jack Williams, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Annalee Lepp, Department of Gender Studies, UVic

Abstract

Scientific ocean drilling (SciOD) has generated millions of micropaleontological records over the last 60 years. Many of these records are housed in databases, such as the extending Ocean Drilling Project (eODP; (Sessa et al., 2023) dataset within the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), the Triton Database (Fenton & Woodhouse et al., 2021), and the Neptune Database (Lazarus, 1994). Each database holds a different portion of SciOD data, with eODP containing occurrences of all major microfossil groups from preliminary shipboard reports, and Neptune holding post-cruise occurrences for all major microfossil groups, and Triton housing post-cruise occurrences for the Cenozoic planktic foraminifera. To facilitate database comparison, only Cenozoic, SciOD generated, planktic foraminifera occurrences are assessed in this study. The species richness, per-capita origination rate, and per-capita extinction rates for each database is compared to published literature to assess if they match community expectations. The databases reproduce most major biotic and climatic events through the Cenozoic, apart from broad disagreement in the Oligocene and the databases display a decrease in richness into the modern not seen in the literature record. The principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR; (Wilkinson et al., 2016)) are used to assess how these databases curate data. All databases broadly adhere to FAIR, with specific components to improve on. Each database must resolve their inconsistent fields, which hinder interoperability. Triton and Neptune have incomplete provenance for some occurrences and no user-interface, decreasing their reusability and accessibility. Neptune must make itself more findable and build redundancy to ensure it stays accessible. Resolving these issues will drastically improve their usability.

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