Advisory Board and Editors Paleontology
Jesús Marugán-Lobón
Dr. Marugán-Lobón is a Paleobiologist from the Universidad autónoma of Madrid, Spain. He is an specialist in Geometric Morphometrics, and his research is focused in understanding macroevolutionary trends in vertebrates, and in particular, the dinosaur-bird transition. He belongs to the research staff of the Las Hoyas fossil site, is Research Associate of the Dinosaur Institute (NHM), and colaborates with the Theoretical Biology Lab, Cavanilles Institute of Biological Diversity and Evolution.
Matthew McCurry
Dr Matthew McCurry is a vertebrate palaeontologist and functional morphologist. His work focuses on understanding the behaviour, ecology and evolution of extinct species using the fossil record. Matthew incorporates fieldwork, descriptive palaeontology, comparative anatomy, 3D scanning and cutting-edge biomechanical simulations to discover new fossil species and gain new insights into how they once lived. He began working at the Australian Museum Research Institute and UNSW in 2017. Prior to this Matthew held fellowships at Monash University and The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. He possesses an honours degree from The University of Newcastle and a PhD from Monash University.
Blanca Moncunill-Solé
I am a palaeobiologist interested in unravelling the biology and evolutionary dynamics of extinct small mammal taxa, particularly on lagomorphs. During my early career, I have developed models for reconstructing the size of past small mammals, and the use cutting-edge palaeontological techniques (e.g. palaeohistology) for disentangling their biology and evolutionary history. These studies allow me to establish the first long-term database of evolutionary responses of small mammals to insularity, being useful for conservation purposes of extant ones. Besides, I am an active researcher in outreaching (articles, workshops, media interviews, exhibition curator, social and outreaching projects, etc.), to bring science to society and to spread my results. At present, my research lines are focused on determination of the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of extinct lagomorphs to past climate and environmental changes, identifying the drivers, biological shifts and extinction rates. In fact, revealing how this family evolved to past environmental changes will contribute to the development of more effective conservationist strategies and policies for threatened extant taxa, helping, hence, in the present and future ecosystem management and protection
David B Norman
Odell Fellow in the Natural Sciences at Christ's College Cambridge, University Reader in the Natural Sciences and Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Chairman of the Charles Darwin & Galapagos Islands Trust Fund. Associate Editor (and former Editor) of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London. Council Member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Christopher R Noto
I am a vertebrate paleontologist working on the taphonomy, paleoecology, and functional morphology of Mesozoic vertebrates including dinosaurs, crocodilians, mammals, and birds. I am the principal investigator at the Arlington Archosaur Site with a position of Research Affiliate in the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas.
Pablo Nuñez Demarco
Dr. Pablo Nunez Demarco is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de la República.
His research skills and expertise include Tectonics, Structural Geology, Field Geology, Sedimentology, Petrography, Geological Processes, Sedimentary Basins, Geological Mapping, Biomechanics and Geology.
Stephanie E Pierce
Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.
Stephanie E. Pierce is a trained paleontologist, anatomist, functional morphologist and evolutionary biomechanist. She completed a BSc degree in paleontology at the University of Alberta, Canada, which included an honors thesis on the anatomy and evolution of hadrosaurian dinosaurs. Directly following this, Stephanie pursued a MSc degree by research in Systematics and Evolution at the University of Alberta studying the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of extinct marine lizards. Her love of vertebrate evolution brought her to the University of Bristol, UK where she embarked on a PhD degree which focused on assessing the interplay between skull shape variation and biomechanical performance in extant and extinct crocodiles. Since finishing her studies, Stephanie has focused her main efforts on examining and reconstructing the 3D anatomy and locomotion potential of early tetrapods (Devonian and Carboniferous) to test hypotheses of limbed movement across the water-land transition.
Graciela Piñeiro
Professor at Departamento de Evolución de Cuencas, Facultad de Ciencias, Montevideo, Uruguay. Investigator Level 1, Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación (ANII). Investigator Gº 4 of the Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas in Biological and in Geological Fields. Responsible for several research projects on Late Paleozoic communities, including comparative anatomy, systematics, paleobiology, taphonomy, biostratigraphy, paleobiogeography and paleoenvironments.
Diogo B Provete
I am an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Statistical Ecology at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. My primary research interests include metacommunity ecology, biogeography, macroecology, and macroevolution. I often use phylogenetic comparative methods, geometric morphometrics, and multidimensional analysis in my research. I'm an elected member of the Science Committee of the Ecological Society of America, Chair of the ESA Latin America Chapter and serve as an Associate Editor for Amphibia-Reptilia, Journal of Herpetology, and Ecosphere. So far, I have published 30 papers on ecology and herpetology in international journals, 4 book chapters, in addition to a book on Biogeographical patterns of South American Anurans by Springer. My research has been featured in F1000 Prime and several Brazilian newspapers. I have advised four master's students. I have been invited to present my research in Swansea (UK), Argentina, Recife, and São Paulo. I served as Editor-in-Chief for Check List, and also was a member of the editorial board of five other zoology journals.
Nicholas D Pyenson
Dr. Nicholas D. Pyenson is a research geologist and curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia. As a paleontologist, his scientific research focuses on the repeated and convergent evolution of marine life, including iconic lineages such as sea turtles, sea cows, and especially whales.
Bartosz J Płachno
Bartosz Jan Płachno (born in 1978), biologist specialized in plant anatomy, cytology and embryology, with particular emphasis on electron microscopy techniques. He mainly studies the structure of carnivorous plants. Scholarship holder of the Foundation for Polish Science and the Minister of Science and Higher Education. Professor of the Faculty of Biology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He's also interested in fossil crinoids and art.
Philip L Reno
I earned by Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology and Biomedical Sciences from Kent State University and then completed a postdoc in developmental biology at Stanford University. I am currently an Professor of Anatomy and Embryology in the department of Bio-Medical Sciences at PCOM. My research focus is uncovering developmental mechanisms underlying human specific traits.