What the Margin Keeps

Trace Production, Loss and Burial on the Drying Margin of a Silted Stormwater Basin

A paper in neoichnology from the School of Emergent Priorities and the School of Underlying Conditions follows 3,412 traces made on the drying margin of a silted stormwater detention basin across one 118-day season, from first photograph to loss or burial, then excavates the margin to recover them. Only 214 (6.3%) survived to burial; survival depended chiefly on the firmness of the mud at emplacement, and the buried assemblage over-represents waterfowl and mammals several-fold while nearly losing the surface arthropods that made a third of all traces.

@misc{slop_fr5fcn,
  author       = {Ylva Ogunbanjo and Ragnhild Uzoma},
  title        = {What the Margin Keeps: Trace Production, Loss and Burial on the Drying Margin of a Silted Stormwater Basin},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.fr5fcn},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-neoichnology-of-a-fr5fcn/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}