Team Bio

The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems research group investigates how land ecosystems evolved and responded to environmental change through deep time. We integrate paleobiology, paleoecology, taphonomy, sedimentology, and paleoclimate, with a focus on Permian and Triassic records from western Gondwana. Combining fieldwork and laboratory analyses, we aim to understand ecosystem dynamics, climate change, and biotic evolution across major ecological transitions.

Adriana Cecilia Mancuso

My research is driven by a central question: how do continental ecosystems respond to extreme environmental change?

I focus on the evolution of land ecosystems in western Gondwana during the Permian and Triassic—a time marked by the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history and the subsequent recovery that reshaped life on land. My work integrates paleobiology, paleoecology, and taphonomy to understand how plants and animals responded to environmental stress, how ecosystems collapsed and recovered, and how these changes are recorded in the fossil record.

A key part of my research explores rift-related lake systems, where sediments, fossils, and footprints preserve exceptionally detailed archives of ancient climates and environments. I study the taphonomy of vertebrate remains and tetrapod footprints to decode how animals lived, moved, and interacted with their surroundings.

By combining fossils, sedimentary records, and geochemical data, my goal is to reconstruct past climates and understand how climate change shaped the evolution of life on land—insights essential for interpreting Earth’s deep past and its future.

julieta de pasqua

I was born in Buenos Aires, and from a young age, I was fortunate enough to visit different natural science museums and national parks throughout Argentina. These places sparked a deep curiosity about the history of life on Earth. In every square or park, it was common to see me “digging” in the ground in the hope of finding new fossils. Over time, and with the encouragement of my family, that childhood passion became my vocation.

I decided to study palaeontology at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (UBA). During my studies, I collaborated with different palaeontology laboratories and was able to participate in excavations of dinosaurs, mammals, and fish. Finally, I fell in love with fossil fish and am currently pursuing my PhD in Palaeozoic fish (350 million years)

Leandro Gaetano

My research explores the evolutionary history of terrestrial vertebrates in Gondwana during the Triassic, a period of intense environmental transformation that followed one of the most profound biological crises in Earth’s history. I am interested in how vertebrate faunas adapted to changing ecological conditions and how these changes are reflected in patterns of diversity and morphology.

I work primarily on non-mammalian cynodonts and related synapsids from Argentina, using detailed anatomical study and phylogenetic approaches to investigate their evolutionary relationships and paleobiogeographic history. These fossils provide key evidence for understanding the early stages of mammalian evolution and the restructuring of terrestrial ecosystems.

Claudia Marsicano

My research focuses on the evolution of terrestrial vertebrate ecosystems in southern Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic and Triassic, a time of profound biological and environmental change. I investigate how vertebrate faunas diversified, dispersed, and reorganized across continents, and how these patterns are linked to major climatic shifts and tectonic processes.

My work centers on basal tetrapods and early amniotes, integrating paleobiogeography, bioestratigraphy, and phylogenetic analyses to reconstruct evolutionary relationships and large-scale faunal dynamics. Through the study of skeletal remains and ichnological evidence, I explore how vertebrates adapted to terrestrial environments and how these transitions are recorded in the fossil record.

Tomás Pedernera

I’m a biologist passionate about plants, evolution, and science education. I work at the intersection of research, teaching, and outreach, with a strong interest in understanding deep time paleobotanical patterns and communicating science in clear and engaging ways. I value teamwork, critical thinking, and creative approaches to learning, and I’m always open to new challenges and collaborations.

Randall Irmis

As a vertebrate paleontologist, my research asks how animals with backbones living on land (and the larger ecosystems they lived in) evolved through deep time, particularly in response to climate change and other global events. This work investigates fossil ecosystems and environments that span in age from over 300 million years old to less than 10,000 years old, and has resulted in many years of fieldwork in Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Argentina, and Ethiopia. Our collaborative research groups include geoscientsts from a variety of displicines to date the fossil-bearing sediments and reconstruct climate and environments the animals were living in.

I am a Curator of Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and a Professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, both part of the University of Utah, where I have worked since 2009. I received my BS in Geology (Emphasis in Paleontology) from Northern Arizona University in 2004, and my PhD in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008.