Advisory Board and Editors Paleontology
Ingrid M Weiss
Professor for Biobased Materials at IBBS - Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems, University of Stuttgart, Germany.
Past Head of Biomineralization at INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany and Private Lecturer "Biochemistry" at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
Peter Wilf
After my eclectic and non-geological 20s, I discovered geology and then paleobotany and have never looked back. Most of my thesis research (Penn Geology) was done in residence at the Smithsonian, on megafloral and paleoclimatic change across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in southern Wyoming. During this time and in an ensuing Smithsonian postdoc, I began developing two major subsequent themes of my research: the fossil history of plant-insect associations and the remarkable riches of Patagonian fossil floras. I spent three years at Michigan, 1999-2002, as a Michigan Fellow and happily joined the Penn State Geosciences faculty in 2002, where I have been developing these and several other wonderful research projects with my students and colleagues all over the world.
Laura AB Wilson
Associate Professor Laura Wilson is an ARC Future Fellow at the Australian National University. Her research interests are centred on how the process of development has shaped morphological evolution on different time scales in mammals. Laura works in the fields of evolutionary biology and biological anthropology, united through the application of statistical shape analysis and 3D modelling of hard and soft tissues to address questions that relate to adaptation, ecology and function
Huiting Wu
Dr. Huiting Wu is a lecturer in the School of Geosciences and Surveying Engineering at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in Beijing, China.
Dr. Wu's research focus is on taxonomy, palaeoecology and morphology of brachiopod, mass extinction and biotic recovery. She is also interested in ecology and morphological changes of brachiopod in modern ocean, bivalves and ammonoids.
Dr. Wu is a graduate of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan). Between 2016-2017, she was a visiting scholar in Deakin University. Between 2018-2010, she was a post-doctors fellow in the Peking University.
Mark T Young
I am a Scottish evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist. My research is focused on major evolutionary transitions: understanding both how and why the vertebrate body-plan undergoes radically transformation when adapting to new niches. I take an interdisciplinary approach including biomechanics, comparative anatomy, neuroanatomy, nomenclature, philosophy of biology, phylogenetics, and systematics/taxonomy.
My areas of research are:
(1) The land-to-sea transition of fossil marine crocodylomorphs. This focuses on the biology of Thalattosuchia (marine crocs that evolved flippers and a tail fin during the Age of Dinosaurs). My research includes understanding their endocranial anatomy, sensory systems, evolutionary relationships, and morphofunctional diversity. Finally, what do thalattosuchians tell us about common evolutionary pathways seen in secondarily aquatic vertebrates?
(2) The air-to-land transition within Columbidae (pigeons and doves). This focuses on the biology of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) and the Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria). My research includes understanding their skeletal anatomy, locomotory biomechanics, and evolutionary relationships. Finally, what does the Dodo tell us about common evolutionary pathways seen in secondarily flightless birds.
(3) Philosophy of biology. The goal of the sciences is to cumulatively gather descriptive and ultimately causal understanding of objects and events. My research includes ensuring that my work is compatible with the goal of scientific inquiry, and to promote a view of biology and biological research that encapsulates biological theory, applied technological innovation, with a philosophical underpinning.
(4) Promotion of best practice in descriptive biology and zoological nomenclature. Given the current ‘age of extinctions’ we are living through and the dire shortage of trained taxonomists, there is a greater need than ever to ensure that taxonomic and descriptive research meets best practice and is compatible with the goal of scientific inquiry.
I am a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and a member of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB). I have Chartered Biologist status, registered by the RSB. I am a member of two IUCN Species Survival Commission groups: the Crocodile Specialist Group, and the Pigeon & Dove Specialist Group. And I am also an academic editor for several international scientific journals, including: Bionomina, PeerJ, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and Zootaxa.
Dagmara Żyła
I am a Coleoptera Curator and a Head of Coleoptera Section at the Museum of Nature Hamburg. I work on phylogenomics, systematics, and evolution of rove beetles (Staphylinidae).