<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><h3>September 22 - Knight Science Journalism at MIT Offices, E19-623, 4pm<br></h3><p><strong>Gauging Ecosystem Response to Climate Change <br></strong><a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/about/profile.php?lastname=Marshall&firstname=Charles">Charles Marshall</a>, Director, Museum of Paleontology, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley.</p><div>The fossil record is evolution's time machine. The Marshall lab uses paleontological data, typically in conjunction with neontological data and computer simulation, augmented with numerical analysis, to understand the history of life and the processes that have shaped it.</div></div><div><br></div><div>"I am interested in how paleontology informs our understanding of the history of life, especially the processes that control it," Charles says. He has broad research interests, including integrating both paleontological and molecular phylogenetic data to look at speciation and extinction rates at different times in the past. A confessed math-lover, he also develops quantitative methods to compensate for the incompleteness of the fossil record; his work looks at the rapidity and timing of mass extinctions, diversification, and the calibration of molecular clocks. His research also has a strong empirical component — he has published papers on the functional morphology of diverse taxa, including fossil plants, marine invertebrates, and the fish-amphibian transition. His current research examines the synergy of tectonic processes, climate change, and changes in diversity on geologic timescales, as well as the importance of new genomic data in our understanding of the Cambrian explosion.</div><div><br></div><div>For more information visit: <a href="http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/marshall/">http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/marshall/</a></div></body></html>