Department of Earth Sciences

People > Staff > Dr Marcello Ruta

Position | Departmental responsibilities | Research Interests | Publications | Further information

Position

NERC Advanced Research Fellow

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Departmental responsibilities

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Research Interests

The key contribution of the fossil record is its ability to address evolutionary issues in deep time. My scientific interests revolve around three main areas: 1) emergence and radiation of major animal groups, particularly early limbed vertebrates; 2) quantitative and qualitative aspects of morphological diversification; 3) patterns from the palaeontological record as a key to understanding crucial episodes in the history of life. Reconstruction of detailed phylogenetic relationships provides a basis for disentangling the origin and transformations of morphofunctional complexes, for generating and testing patterns of character acquisition and change, and for investigating models of adaptive radiation.

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Publications

Link to Dr Marcello Ruta on the University's on-line database of research outputs (opens in a new window)

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Further information

Dr Marcello Ruta is a member of the Palaeobiology and Biodiversity Research Group at Bristol