Over 99.9% of species that have ever existed are extinct. If scientists want to understand how extinction works, they need to understand the fossil record. The newly established science of conservation paleobiology uses fossil data to help predict which organisms and ecosystems are most likely to go extinct in the future. The fossil record provides over 500 million years of information on environmental changes, including global warming, that represent natural, repeated experiments in the history of life. Dr. Rowan Lockwood will introduce you to the field of conservation paleobiology and techniques applied, including ancient DNA, biogeochemistry, and 3D digitization. Dr. Lockwood will highlight a handful of examples relating to Ice Age mammals, including Shasta ground sloths, cave bears, caribou, and wolves. She will finish with a case study focusing on her own research on Chesapeake Bay oysters, which emphasizes the importance of using fossils to establish a baseline for restoration.
Dr. Lockwood is a paleobiologist, who uses fossils to predict how modern oceans will respond to environmental changes in the future, including global warming and extinction.
