Susan Kidwell, University of Chicago
Professor
Chicago, Illinois
skidwell@uchicago.edu
Office:
(773) 702-3008
Expert In
Bio/Research
My primary research interest is understanding the formation of fossil records. What controls the abundance of skeletal remains (e.g., shells and bones), how accurately is community composition and structure captured, how time-averaged are paleobiologic data, and how biased are paleobiological dat...
Click to Expand >>
Click to Expand >>
Bio/Research
My primary research interest is understanding the formation of fossil records. What controls the abundance of skeletal remains (e.g., shells and bones), how accurately is community composition and structure captured, how time-averaged are paleobiologic data, and how biased are paleobiological data by inter-species differences in post-mortem durability and by spatial variability in conditions? I use ship-based fieldwork, sample rescue (from wastewater agencies), meta-analysis, and modeling to test -- and demonstrate -- how very young fossil records (especially dead remains that are only now accumulating on the seafloor or landscape) can be used to acquire baseline information from before the onset of human activities. Such insights are essential to evaluating anthropogenic impacts and developing targets for remediation. I'm currently using the continental shelves of southern California and of the northern Red sea as study systems, but others in the group have applied this approach to other coastal shelves, to lakes (ostracodes), and to terrestrial settings (mammals).
Click to Shrink <<
Click to Shrink <<