Projects
SHARKS-XT
SHARK EXTINCTIONS | from the past to the future
A lot has been said about the predictive power of the fossil record to address the current extinction crisis. Nevertheless, the extent to which fossil species can inform conservation efforts is still unclear. Founded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and in partnership with with SharkReferences, SHARKS-XT aims to provide a clear link between past extinctions and the conservation of modern species using the abundant shark fossil record.
MEGACENE
FATE AND FUNCTION OF MARINE MEGAFAUNA | from the Pliocene to the Anthropocene
Marine megafauna are among the most ecologically important species in the world’s oceans. The modern assemblage established in the Pleistocene, after a major extinction event that eliminated one-third of its diversity. Since then, they have remained virtually intact until now (the Anthropocene), when they face major human-driven pressures that threaten them to extinction. A holistic understanding of the functional ecology of the marine megafaunal assemblage is still lacking. Most importantly, we ignore what is likely to happen to marine megafauna and their associated ecological roles given the extinction crisis we are experiencing.
Funded by the EU and the Welsh government, MECACENE aims to address these knowledge gaps, using novel analyses to establish the structure of marine megafauna functional diversity from the Pliocene until today.
SHARKS-FD
SHARKS FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY | extinctions and conservation
The SHARKS-FD project studies the functional diversity of sharks (but also of other marine organisms such as mollusks) at different time and spatial scales. We use 1) the fossil record to assess how functional diversity has changed over time and how it has responded to extinctions, and 2) trait-data from extant species to assess global patterns and identify prioritisation areas for conservation.
GIANTS
GIANTIMSM IN SHARKS | trees and 3D
Megalodon was the largest shark ever, reaching a maximum body size of 18 meters. This apex predator became extinct around 2 million years ago. The whale shark is as large as Megalodon, but it is still around today. How did these giants become so large?
GIANTS studies the evolutionary pathways towards gigantism in sharks by assessing their body size evolution and most recently, by re-constructing the whole body of Megalodon. To do so, we first built a 2D model of its body dimensions, and we are working on a 3D reconstruction of its entire body. We aim to use this information to better understand the intrinsic traits that may have conferred extinction susceptibility to Megalodon.
FUTURE
Fate and fUnction of Threatened faUnas in the AnthRopocene sEas
FUTURE seeks to apply a new prioritization framework to preserve species and areas based on their importance to maintain ecological functionality. To do so, we categorise species according to their contributions to functional diversity and combine this information with IUCN status in a novel metric (FUSE) for the conservation prioritisation toolbox.