'A palaeontological view of the modern climate and biodiversity crisis'

This year’s Annual Bennett Lecture is ‘A palaeontological view of the modern climate and biodiversity crisis’ by Professor Daniela Schmidt.

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change in the 6th Assessment stated that historical and palaeontological records show that climatic variability has high potential to affect biodiversity and human society and that “… global biodiversity crises [are] often triggered by rapid warming”. The biases of the fossil record and the long timescale involved raise the question what the contribution of the palaeontological record can be to answering of the impacts and risks of the climate crisis. I will draw on examples of links between environmental change and biotic response in the fossil record, highlight the power of our methodologies working with challenging records, and our experience in combining climatic and biological records.

The 63rd Annual Bennett Lecture at the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment will be delivered by Professor Daniela Schmidt.

Daniela Schmidt is Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and the APVC Research Environment and Culture at the University of Bristol. Her work focusses on understanding vulnerability of people and nature in the context of climate change, especially in marine systems. She was coordinating lead author for the IPCC WGII chapter on Europe. Working with colleagues in the humanities, social science and law, she assesses adaptation options and aims to widen the discourse of climate change risks. She held a series of fellowships from NERC, the Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust and hosted fellows from different continents supported by a range of funders.

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