History of Biodiversity

In this video, Professor Richard Twitchett from the Natural History Museum, London, explains the evolution of modern marine fauna from the Mesozoic through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Speaking from the fossil room in the Lyme Regis Museum, Richard discusses the evolution of different feeding mechanisms and how this forced species to burrow into marine sediments to avoid predation, a process known as infaunalisation. He also highlights the importance of fossils and how they provide the key to understanding the evolution of marine species.