PALAEONTOLOGY[online]

Tag: Jeffrey R. Thompson

Jeff Thompson is a PhD student at the University of Southern California, based out of Los Angeles. For his dissertation, he is exploring the palaeodevelopmental evolution of echinoids, with a specific focus on the divergence of cidaroid and euechinoid echinoids. His research focuses on an integrated molecular biological and developmental approach, paired with fossil data. He is also undertaking phylogenetic and palaeoecological studies of Palaeozoic stem-group echinoids. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and electronic dance music.

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Jeffrey R. Thompson, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, USA.

by Jeffrey R. Thompson*1 Introduction: Palaeontology is truly a science of the twenty-first century. Palaeontologists are no longer concerned only with fossils, but also with topics such as genetics, developmental biology and chemistry — although most of us can’t resist digging around in the dirt from time to time! You are almost as likely to find a palaeontology graduate student in a class on molecular biology as in one on stratigraphy. This is because, in recent years, the integration of fossil, developmental and genetic data has fast become one of the most promising ways to study the patterns and processes of evolution. At this point, it may be helpful to introduce some of the sources of information that palaeontologists use to address large-scale evolutionary questions. Molecular ...