Paleontology

Barattolo, Barra, Raia, Sgarella, Di Donato, Russo

Paleontological analyses the fossil record in order to understand how life evolves, animal clades come into existence, diversify, and go extinct, and how species place on Earth in both space and time. These analyses involve different approaches, from systematics, to biostratigraphy, and paleoecology. The final goal includes ascertaining the paleoenvironmental evolution of the planet, species paleogeography in the light of climate change, and what determines their fate, commonness and phenotypic change.

One peculiarity of DiSTAR paleontology is the study of carbonatic, shallow water biofacies, which happen to be common in the Apennines from the Triassic to the Eocene. This interval covers two mass extinctions (Triassic-Jurassic and Cretaceous-Tertiary events). The rich algal flora (mainly including dasicladals e bryopsidals) and forams, allow interpreting bioevents, species turnover and ecologic changes. These assemblages are usually the focus of carbonate platform biostratigraphy.