Palaeobiology and Palaeoecology

A focus of our research is the Cambrian "explosion," arguably the greatest transition in the history of life, a better appreciation of which will improve our understanding of the broader aspects of the evolutionary process. Our approach involves novel interrogation of the early fossil record combined with leading-edge phylogenetic and morphometric techniques, and recognition of the powerful interplay between biological and planetary evolution. We are also a major centre for vertebrate palaeontology, again integrating biology (e.g. functional biology) and geology (e.g. plate tectonics and palaeobiogeography).

Community Structure, Evolution and Organismal Interaction

• The early evolution of eukaryotes, multicellularity and heterotrophy, particularly as they relate to ecological expansion through the Proterozoic and early Cambrian.
• ‘Ecosystem engineering' feedback effects of biological evolution.
• Ediacaran and Cambrian (especially Burgess Shale-type) faunas.
• The evolution and palaeobiology of archosaurian reptiles.
• Predator-prey interactions in marine communities.
• Systematics and phylogeny of trilobites, early arthropods and ecdysozoans.
• Recent and fossil bivalves with an eye to reconstructing their evolutionary history.
• The mechanisms and palaeobiological implications of exceptional fossil preservation.
• The development of combined phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic techniques.
• Convergence and contingency in biological evolution.
• Studying the evolutionary origins of key avian features such as feathers, flight, and endothermy
• Establishing accurate evolutionary timescales across the vertebrate tree of life
• Inferring phylogenetic interrelationships using novel molecular, morphological, and fossil data
• Improving biogeographic inferences using fossils, and studying the link between climate change and biogeographic range
• Investigating macroevolutionary patterns across mass extinction events
• Developing hard and soft tissue anatomical atlases for key vertebrate taxa using new visualization techniques
• THe evolution and palaeobiology of archosaurian reptiles
• The early evoulution and diversification of birds

We welcome applications from students with backgrounds in geology, zoology, biology and, when appropriate, physics or biomathematics.

Recent publications in this area.