Current Research Areas
Quaternary Ecosystems and Megafaunal Extinctions
The extinction of large vertebrates across the planet over the last 50,000 years is probably the most significant biotic event of the recent past, and can be argued to be the start of today's biodiversity crisis.
The research in the lab involves compiling data from a variety of literature sources to determine where and who went extinct, and then either gathering radiocarbon dates, or sampling specimens to generate new dates to determine when these species go extinct. We also use analytical techniques to determine the timing of extinction, and the long-term consequences of this extinction on community and ecosystem dynamics
We use approaches from ecology, paleontology, anthropology, and geology to address these problems, and research in the lab has so far focussed on South Asia and North America.
The research in the lab involves compiling data from a variety of literature sources to determine where and who went extinct, and then either gathering radiocarbon dates, or sampling specimens to generate new dates to determine when these species go extinct. We also use analytical techniques to determine the timing of extinction, and the long-term consequences of this extinction on community and ecosystem dynamics
We use approaches from ecology, paleontology, anthropology, and geology to address these problems, and research in the lab has so far focussed on South Asia and North America.
Biodiversity Change in Cenozoic and Mesozoic Vertebrate Communities
The story of life on earth is the story of change. Ecological processes such as immigration and extirpation, and evolutionary processes such as speciation and extinction govern the structure and composition of species assemblages world over.
We are interested in understanding the processes governing the structure and function of these assemblahes in the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, how climate drives ecological change , and how factors such as development influence the structure of terrestrial vertebrate assemblages.
We use approaches from ecology, paleontology, and geology to address these problems, and have focussed our research on South Asia and North America.
We are interested in understanding the processes governing the structure and function of these assemblahes in the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, how climate drives ecological change , and how factors such as development influence the structure of terrestrial vertebrate assemblages.
We use approaches from ecology, paleontology, and geology to address these problems, and have focussed our research on South Asia and North America.
Taxonomy, Systematics, and Biogeography of Large Vertebrates
Knowing who exists in your assemblage is the first step in any ecological or evolutionary analysis. Using both museum collections around the world, and targeted field work, we are working towards reassessing the fossil records of mammals and dinosaurs, especially in under-studied regions like South Asia. So far, we have focussed on the fossil records of elephants and their kin, horses, giraffes, crocodilians, and sauropod dinosaurs.
Scaling in Vertebrates
Morphological traits, life history characteristics, physiology, and ecological traits tend to follow scaling rules. These power-law functions are widely used in ecological, paleontological, and biological studies that aim to understand how organisms and ecosystems function.
In the lab, we are interested in generating new allometric estimators of body mass using skeletal characteristics in mammals, the scaling of life history characteristics with body mass in different environments, and the scaling of ecometrics with body mass.
In the lab, we are interested in generating new allometric estimators of body mass using skeletal characteristics in mammals, the scaling of life history characteristics with body mass in different environments, and the scaling of ecometrics with body mass.
