Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Paleontology reconstructs the history of life from physical traces left in rock, and the study of dinosaurs sits at one of its most active intersections with evolutionary biology. By analyzing fossilized bones, teeth, and trackways alongside phylogenetic methods that map evolutionary relationships, researchers have established that birds are living dinosaurs — direct descendants of theropod lineages — fundamentally reshaping how we understand both deep time and the animals alive today. Current work focuses on refining the branching relationships among major groups like sauropods and theropods, often revisiting long-held assumptions as new specimens emerge from underexplored geological formations across South America, Africa, and Asia. Central open questions include the pace and drivers of early dinosaur diversification, the physiological and behavioral traits that allowed certain lineages to survive the end-Cretaceous extinction while others vanished entirely.

Works

121,927

Total citations

855,763

Keywords

DinosaurEvolutionPhylogenetic AnalysisPaleontologyBirdsSauropod