In section Paleobiology and Paleoenvironments, we study the evolution of ecosystems over long timescales. We deduce the environmental factors which significantly influenced the emergence and disappearance of communities throughout Earth’s history, alongside predicting the effects of modern day anthropogenic climate change on future ecosystems. To achieve this we combine geological fieldwork, state-of-the-art analytical methods, palaeobiological databases and statistical analysis.
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Baba Senowbari-Daryan was a leading global expert on fossil calcareous sponges and has enriched science with nearly 200 publications. His strong observation skills have clarified many taxonomic problems in Permian and Triassic reef systems We also miss Baba for his straightforwardness and strength o... Continue
Is clustering of extinctions really an increase in extinction rate or is it merely generated by reduced sedimentation rates that reduce the spacing between individual extinctions with long breaks between each other? Niklas Hohmann, Paleobiology Master student, has examined this question in his Bachelor thesis, which is now published in PALAIOS (Hohmann 2021). Continue
Abrupt changes in environmental signals recorded in an interval of strata can be the result of (1) fast changes in environmental conditions and average sedimentation rate or (2) average changes in environmental conditions and slow sedimentation rate. The new study by Dr. Emilia Jarochowska and co-authors, published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, proposes a method to estimate relative changes in depositional rates and test it in a sedimentary section Continue
