Emma Dunne

Dr. Emma Dunne

GeoZentrum Nordbayern
Chair of Palaeontology (Prof. Dr. Kießling)

Loewenichstraße 28
91054 Erlangen

Phone number: +49 9131 85-22967
Fax number: +49 9131 85-22690
Email: emma.dunne@fau.de
Website: https://www.gzn.nat.fau.de/palaeontologie/team/wissenschaftler/emma-dunne/

I am a paleobiologist and my research focuses on understanding the drivers that shaped patterns of evolution and biodiversity through geological time. I am particularly interested in the macroevolution of vertebrates, such as dinosaurs and other reptiles, and uses a broad range of computational and quantitative tools. Some of my current work includes investigating how past climate change played a role in dinosaur evolution and examining how fossil record (sampling) biases impact our understanding deep-time biodiversity patterns.

I am also interested in the intersection between paleontological research and society, especially the historical and socio-economic context of fossil collecting and study. I co-founded and now co-lead the Pal(a)eoscientometrics Research Collective, a transdisciplinary international group of academics and allied workers that conducts data-driven analyses of how ethical issues, socio-economic factors, and the legacy of colonialism influence paleontological research.

At the Geozentrum Nordbayern, I work as a lecturer and researcher, and I also coordinate the MSc program in Paleobiology. For more information, see our dedicated webpage here.

PhD Quantitative Paleobiology – University of Birmingham (2019)
MSc Taxonomy and Biodiversity – Imperial College London (2015)
BA(Mod.) Natural Sciences (Zoology) – Trinity College Dublin (2014)

Journal Articles

Dunne E., Chattopadhyay D., Dean CD., Dillon EM., Dowding E., Godoy PL., Smith JA., Raja NB.:
Data equity in paleobiology: progress, challenges, and future outlook
In: Paleobiology 51 (2025), p. 237-249
ISSN: 0094-8373
DOI: 10.1017/pab.2024.61
Paiva ALS., Godoy PL., Dunne E., Farnsworth A., Valdes PJ., Lunt DJ., Klein W., Langer MC., Hsiou AS.:
The role of climate on the emergence of giant caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) from the Miocene western Amazonian region
In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 656 (2024), Article No.: 112582
ISSN: 0031-0182
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112582
Moreno R., Dunne E., Mujal E., Farnsworth A., Valdes PJ., Schoch RR.:
Impact of environmental barriers on temnospondyl biogeography and dispersal during the Middle–Late Triassic
In: Palaeontology 67 (2024), Article No.: e12724
ISSN: 0031-0239
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12724
Arenas-Castro H., Berdejo-Espinola V., Chowdhury S., Rodríguez-Contreras A., James AR., Raja NB., Dunne E., Bertolino S., Emidio NB., Derez CM., Drobniak SM., Fulton GR., Francisco Henao-Diaz L., Kaur A., Kim CJ., Lagisz M., Medina I., Mikula P., Narayan VP., O’Bryan CJ., Ying Oh RR., Ovsyanikova E., Pérez-Hämmerle KV., Pottier P., Powers JS., Rodriguez-Acevedo AJ., Rozak AH., Sena PH., Sockhill NJ., Tedesco AM., Tiapa-Blanco F., Tsai JS., Villarreal-Rosas J., Wadgymar SM., Yamamichi M., Amano T.:
Academic publishing requires linguistically inclusive policies
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 291 (2024), Article No.: 20232840
ISSN: 0962-8452
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2840
Schnetz L., Dunne E., Feichtinger I., Butler RJ., Coates MI., Sansom IJ.:
Rise and diversification of chondrichthyans in the Paleozoic
In: Paleobiology (2024)
ISSN: 0094-8373
DOI: 10.1017/pab.2024.1
Smith JA., Raja NB., Clements T., Dimitrijevic D., Dowding E., Dunne E., Gee BM., Godoy PL., Lombardi EM., Mulvey L., Nätscher P., Reddin CJ., Shirley B., Warnock R., Kocsis Á.:
Increasing the equitability of data citation in paleontology: capacity building for the big data future
In: Paleobiology (2023)
ISSN: 0094-8373
DOI: 10.1017/pab.2023.33
URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/increasing-the-equitability-of-data-citation-in-paleontology-capacity-building-for-the-big-data-future/5DE206ED3B51F7064E8FD60CA77E8D73
Dillon E., Dunne E., Womack T., Kouvari M., Larina E., Claytor JR., Ivkić A., Juhn M., Milla Carmona P., Robson SV., Saha A., Villafaña J., Zill M.:
Challenges and directions in analytical paleobiology
In: Paleobiology (2023)
ISSN: 0094-8373
DOI: 10.1017/pab.2023.3
Farnsworth A., Benson RBJ., Godoy PL., Greene SE., Valdes PJ., Lunt DJ., Butler RJ., Dunne E.:
Climatic controls on the ecological ascendancy of dinosaurs
In: Current Biology 33 (2023), p. 206-+
ISSN: 0960-9822
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064
Dunne E., Thompson SE., Butler RJ., Rosindell J., Close RA.:
Mechanistic neutral models show that sampling biases drive the apparent explosion of early tetrapod diversity
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023)
ISSN: 2397-334X
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02128-3
Dunne E., Raja NB., Stewens PP., Zin-Maung-Maung-Thein ., Zaw K.:
Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber
In: Communications Biology 5 (2022), Article No.: 1023
ISSN: 2399-3642
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03847-2
Henderson S., Dunne E., Giles S.:
Sampling biases obscure the early diversification of the largest living vertebrate group
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 289 (2022), p. 20220916-
ISSN: 0962-8452
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0916
Henderson S., Dunne E., Fasey SA., Giles S.:
The early diversification of ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii): hypotheses, challenges and future prospects
In: Biological Reviews (2022)
ISSN: 1464-7931
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12907
Cisneros J., Raja Schoob NB., Ghilardi AM., Dunne E., Pinheiro F., Regalado Fernández OR., Sales M., Rodríguez-de la Rosa R., Miranda-Martínez A., González-Mora S., Bantim R., de Lima F., Pardo J.:
Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil
In: Royal Society Open Science 9 (2022)
ISSN: 2054-5703
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210898
Raja NB., Dunne E., Matiwane A., Khan T., Nätscher P., Ghilardi AM., Chattopadhyay D.:
Author Correction: Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2021), 10.1038/s41559-021-01608-8)
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022)
ISSN: 2397-334X
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01682-6
Foffa D., Dunne E., Nesbitt SJ., Butler RJ., Fraser NC., Brusatte SL., Farnsworth A., Lunt DJ., Valdes PJ., Walsh S., Barrett PM.:
Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha
In: Nature (2022)
ISSN: 0028-0836
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x
Raja Schoob NB., Dunne E., Matiwane A., Khan T., Nätscher P., Ghilardi AM., Chattopadhyay D.:
Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2021)
ISSN: 2397-334X
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01608-8
Close R., Benson R., Alroy J., Carrano M., Cleary T., Mannion P., Dunne E., Uhen M., Butler R.:
The apparent exponential radiation of Phanerozoic land vertebrates is an artefact of spatial sampling biases
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 287 (2020)
ISSN: 0962-8452
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0372
Butler RJ., Sennikov AG., Ezcurra MD., Hedrick BP., Maidment SCR., Meade LE., Raven TJ., Gower DJ., Dunne E.:
Cranial anatomy and taxonomy of the erythrosuchid archosauriform ‘Vjushkovia triplicostata’ Huene, 1960, from the Early Triassic of European Russia
In: Royal Society Open Science 6 (2019), Article No.: 191289
ISSN: 2054-5703
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191289
Close RA., Benson RBJ., Alroy J., Behrensmeyer AK., Benito J., Carrano MT., Cleary TJ., Dunne E., Mannion PD., Uhen MD., Butler RJ.:
Diversity dynamics of Phanerozoic terrestrial tetrapods at the local-community scale
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution 3 (2019), p. 590-597
ISSN: 2397-334X
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0811-8
Dunne E., Close RA., Button DJ., Brocklehurst N., Cashmore DD., Lloyd GT., Butler RJ.:
Diversity change during the rise of tetrapods and the impact of the ‘carboniferous rainforest collapse’
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 285 (2018), Article No.: 20172730
ISSN: 0962-8452
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2730
Brocklehurst N., Dunne E., Cashmore D., Frӧbisch J.:
Physical and environmental drivers of Paleozoic tetrapod dispersal across Pangaea
In: Nature Communications 9 (2018)
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07623-x

Book Contributions

Raja Schoob NB., Dunne E.:
Fossil Trafficking, Fraud, and Fakery
In: Naomi Oosterman, Donna Yates (ed.): Art Crime in Context, Springer, 2022, p. 61-79 (Studies in Art, Heritage, Law and the Market, Vol.6)
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-14084-6_5

Conference Contributions

Dunne E., Raja NB.:
Scientometric trends in Burmese amber research
Paleontological Association Annual Meeting (Online, 16. December 2020 - 18. December 2020)
Raja NB., Dunne E., Khan T., Nätscher P.:
The overlooked realities of sampling bias
GSA Annual Meeting 2020 (Online, 26. October 2020 - 30. October 2020)
DOI: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-356351
URL: https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2020AM/webprogram/Paper356351.html

Miscellaneous

Dunne E., Raja Schoob NB., Stewens P.:
The Return of Fossils Removed Under Colonial Rule
(2022)
DOI: 10.4467/2450050XSNR.22.013.17026
URL: https://www.ejournals.eu/SAACLR/2022/2-2022/art/22616/

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