Principal Investigator

Jonathan Payne

My research group studies the relationship between environmental change and biological evolution over geological timescales. We have been been working at several field localities where we can use carbonate sediments to collect high-resolution paleontological, sedimentological, and geochemical datasets spanning timescales of up to 10 million years to analyze biological and environmental change during mass extinctions and subsequent recoveries - particularly the end-Permian mass extinction. We also use data compiled from the published paleontological literature to analyze global evolutionary patterns over timescales as long as hundreds of millions of years. Nearly all of this work is collaborative among members of the lab at Stanford and much of it also involves researchers at other universities in the US and overseas.

Post-doctoral Researchers

Katja Meyer

I am interested in the marine biogeochemistry and microbial ecology of ancient oceans. In particular, I am interested in the relationship between marine chemistry and life during the end-Permian mass extinction and Triassic recovery. Previously, I have used Earth system modeling to study the transition from oxic to euxinic marine conditions. At Stanford, I am using a combination of isotopic, molecular, and numerical techniques to examine the degree to which the histories of microbial and animal communities are coupled through marine biogeochemistry during the Triassic recovery from mass extinction.

Paul Harnik

I am interested in the spatial and temporal structure of biodiversity. In my research, I use marine mollusks to investigate the contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to rates of extinction, origination, and ecological expansion and contraction. This work spans multiple scales - ranging from regional-scale studies in the early Cenozoic to global-scale studies spanning the post-Paleozoic - and involves a combination of fieldwork, museum research, and database compilation and analysis. At Stanford, I am focusing primarily on the interactions between geographic range, life history, and evolutionary rates in extant and extinct marine scallops, with the goal of linking the complex history of extinction and origination preserved in the fossil record with the rich diversity of life observed globally today. This research may inform our predictions about the response of contemporary marine faunas to future environmental change and will also lay the groundwork for addressing other questions such as the origins of evolutionary novelties (e.g., swimming function in scallops) and the interactions between body size evolution and global climate over the Cenozoic.

Graduate Students

Brian Michael Kelley

I am interested in the relationship between reefs and global diversity throughout the Phanerozoic Eon. Specifically, I am interested in determining the role that reefs play in providing a source of global diversity. At Stanford I am planning to conduct field work on Middle Triassic reefs in the Nanpanjiang Basin of southern China. Middle Triassic reefs represent the recovery of reef ecosystems following the end-Permian mass extinction. By analyzing the recovery of reefs following the largest mass extinction in the geologic record, I hope to develop an understanding of how this recovery impacted diversity on a global scale.

Brianna Rego

I am a Masters student in paleobiology and a PhD student in the Department of History at Stanford. My paleobiology research focuses on the evolution of body size in Foraminifera during the Triassic in an effort to better understand the controls on recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction. My PhD is in the history of science, concentrating on the late-twentieth century (Cold War) and contemporary science. I work on the history of evolutionary thought, radiation management, science policy, and environmental history. I am currently working on several projects, including radiation in tobacco, wolf legislation in the Rocky Mountains, and radiation management and environmental remediation in the American West.

Aviv Bachan Dovrat

I am interested in the transition between the Triassic and Jurassic periods and the mass extinction that accompanied it. To better understand the cause for the extinction, and the controls on recovery from it, I have been studying thick shallow marine carbonate sequences that record the transition in detail and provide the opportunity to collect high resolution geochemical, sedimentological, and paleontological data.

Ellen Schaal

Research Assistants

Adam Jost

I recently graduated from Vassar College, where I studied the Silurian-Devonian carbon isotope record of Central Appalachian Basin carbonates in the Hudson Valley region. In general, I am interested in carbon cycle responses to environmental change in the paleoworld. At Stanford, I am working on the evolution of body size in Mesozoic gastropods during and after several mass extinctinon events. Additionally, I am helping to investigate the characteristics of the end-Permian mass extinction.

Michael Holmes

Visiting Researcher

Undergraduate Students

Former Lab Members

Visiting Researchers

Post-doctoral Fellow

Research Assistants

Sarah Truebe

Sarah worked in the Paleobiology lab from 2007 to 2008. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Arizona.

Crystal Breier

Crystal worked in the Paleobiology lab during 2006. She worked on the Sr isotope composition of Permian-Triassic carbonates as well as the evolution of body size in Triassic gastropods. Crystal is currently teaching Middle School science in Massachusetts.

Undergraduate Students

Renata Cummins (Harvard undergraduate)

Renata worked during the summer of 2009 on a study of foraminiferan size evolution through the Phanerozoic.

Nelson Nogales

Nelson studied the size evolution of Triassic ammonoids and its relationship to the end-Permian mass extinction.

Kate Hyder

Kate studied extinction and recovery of foraminifera across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.  She participated in fieldwork in Italy during the summer of 2008.

Ilana Lohr-Schmidt

Ilana worked during the spring of 2007 on constructing an empirical morphospace for Late Triassic gastropods.

Kimberly Lau (Yale undergraduate)

Kimberly worked during the summer of 2007 on constructing an empirical morphospace for Neogene gastropods. She analyzed the distribution of gastropod diversity, sizes, and abundances in morphospace to determine how diversity and abundance are structured morphologically.

Annie Scofield

Annie constructed an empirical morphospace for Early and Middle Triassic gastropods to investigate the relationship between taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity during recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction during the summer of 2007.

Mindi Summers

Mindi studied the recovery of foraminifera from the end-Permian mass extinction using samples from a carbonate platform in south China.  She also participated in fieldwork during the summer of 2006.  She is currently a PhD student in Paleobiology at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

High School Interns

2009: Nikki Tachiki (Troy Tech '10)

2009: Kirah Ingram (Palo Alto High '13)

2008: Kendrick Diaz (Independence High '09)

2007: Warren Ou (Independence High '08)