Mentoring visit lecture and workshop – Associate Professor Erin Saupe, University of Oxford

20 06 2023

The Institute of Evolutionary Biology and the PARADIVE Lab cordially invite you to a lecture and workshop by Erin Saupe who is an Associate Professor in Palaeobiology at the University of Oxford.

Erin uses data from both fossil and extant organisms to investigate the origin and maintenance of biodiversity over geological timescales. To understand how species respond to climate conditions across time and space, she applies ecological niche modelling approaches, which combine environmental information (e.g., temperature and water availability) with species’ occurrence data. Her research has shown that information gleaned from the fossil record can be used to project how Earth’s biodiversity will be affected by today’s rapidly changing climate. These predictions can, in turn, inform conservation strategies for species at risk of extinction. For her contribution to the newly-emerging field of conservation biology, she was recently recognised by the Blavatnik Awards UK that celebrate innovation in science. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Leverhulme Prize, awarded to outstanding researchers with great future potential.

The lecture “The emergence of latitudinal diversity gradients in deep time” will be held on 27^th of June 12.00-13.30at the Faculty of Biology (Miecznikowa 1, room 102B). It will focus on quantifying the emergence of latitudinal diversity gradients in the marine realm, from benthic invertebrates to planktonic foraminifera. She will delve into the potential driving mechanisms responsible for the higher diversity seen at low latitudes today, and why we may not see the same pattern in deeper time.
The workshop will be held on 28^th of June 10.00-16.00 at the Centre of Biological and Chemical Sciences (CNBCh, Żwirki i Wigury 101, room 1.126) and will provide an introduction to ecological niche modelling approaches. IMPORTANT: please contact Karina Vanadzina to register interest.