Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironments research investigates the pattern and processes of organismal evolution and community change in deep-time, and uses the spatial and temporal distribution of key fossil groups to reconstruct past environments.
Research in palaeobiology and palaeoenvironments has an established international reputation for its work in the
fields of:
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early vertebrate palaeobiology (Smith, Sansom)
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reconstructing depositional environments from faunal and geochemical lines of evidence (Thomas, Smith, Boomer, Wheeley)
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seed plant evolution and phylogeny (Hilton, Bateman)
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Cenozoic palaeoclimates and vegetation history with special emphasis on the Palaeocene-Eocene (Harrington, Liang)
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extinctions and biotic recovery (Hallam, Harrington, Wheeley, Hilton),
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Ostracod palaeoecology and evolution (Boomer)
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Palaeozoic palaeofloristics (Hilton, Bateman)
There is significant collaboration between members of the group, both through publications and co-supervision of research student projects.
Current research interests
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Palaeobiology and palaeoecology of early vertebrates from Gondwana (Sansom)
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The phylogeny of seed plants (Hilton, Bateman)
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Responses of Cenozoic vegetation at mid and high latitudes to climate change over different time scales (from 104 to 106 years) (Harrington, Liang)
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Architecture, function and phylogeny of feeding apparatuses in primitive conodonts (Smith, Sansom)
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Evolution of the Laurentian margin of Iapetus during the Early Palaeozoic (Smith)
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The morphogenesis of arthropod eyes (Thomas)
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Ostracod palaeoecology and ostracods as proxies of rapid global climatic change (Boomer)
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Faunal turnover and events across the Jurassic–Triassic boundary (Hallam, Sansom, Boomer)
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Architecture and development of complexity in Silurian reef systems (Thomas, Smith)
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Origins and development of vertebrate skeletons (Sansom)
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Palaeoenvironmental and sequence stratigraphic studies in the Palaeozoic (Thomas, Smith, Wheeley, Hilton)
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Extinction patterns and biotic recovery (Hallam, Harrington, Wheeley, Hilton)
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Aberrant climate change during the Palaeogene (Harrington)
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The latitudinal distribution of plant diversity in the early Palaeogene (Harrington)
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Community change in Late Palaeozoic floras (Hilton, Bateman)
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Fossil plants as biospheric indicators (Harrington, Liang, Hilton)
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The origin of sharks (Sansom)
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Carbonate taphonomy (Wheeley, Smith, Hilton)
Facilities
To enable research in a diversity of areas with palaeobiology and palaeoenvironments a number of research dedicated laboratories including an acid digestion lab, rock preparation facilities, the Hills general purpose lab, research microscopy and image capture systems and the Geoscience precision cutting facility. Use of the Lapworth Geological Museum including the recently opened Shotton archive and computer cluster is central to the activities of the research group.