This award will support the participation of six U.S. scientists in a seminar on "Organic Geochemical Marker Techniques Applied to the Paleobiological Record." The seminar is organized jointly by Drs. David Dilcher and John Hayes of Indiana University and Drs. M. R. Walter and E. M. Truswell of the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources. Participants from the U.S. and Australia will meet in Canberra, Australia in August 1988. The seminar will address how the analysis of biogenic substances can help in deciphering the organisms responsible for organic compounds (especially petroleum) in sedimentary rocks. This seminar will bring together paleontologists, organic geochemists, biologists and natural product chemists. Such interdisciplinary interaction will bring to the attention of paleontologists an important source of information that they usually overlook, will inform chemists of important palaeobiological and evolutionary issues to which they might contribute, and may enhance the use of biomarker techniques in petroleum geochemistry. Participation by U.S. and Australian scientists who are experts in these various subfields should promote active collaboration to the benefit of both countries.
