What can researchers tell us?

In each week, I will be interviewing palaeontologists and other scientists engaged in research about biodiversity – past and present. It is fascinating to see how new knowledge about the past impacts on our understanding of the present, and suggests what it may mean for the future. Below we’ve included a list of the guest scientists whom I have interviewed over the course. I am hugely grateful to these colleagues for sharing their knowledge with us.

Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan	lead educator and paleobiologist, University of Cape Town
Professor Ed Rybicki	microbiologist, University of Cape Town
Tetsuto Miyashita	PhD candidate, University of Alberta
Dr Robert Gess	paleontologist, Albany Museum/Rhodes University
Dr Roger Smith	paleontologist & geologist, Iziko Museums
Dr Michael Day	paleontologist, Wits University
Emeritus Professor John Anderson	paleobotanist, Wits University
Dr Emil Krupandan	Postdoctoral researcher, University of Cape Town
Pippa Haarhoff	paleontologist, Manager at West Coast Fossil Park
Professor Becky Ackermann	biological anthropologist, University of Cape Town
Emeritus Professor William Bond	terrestrial ecologist, University of Cape Town
Professor Peter Ryan	ornithologist, University of Cape Town
Associate Professor Muthama Muasya	plant scientist, University of Cape Town
Professor Timm Hoffman	plant ecologist, University of Cape Town
Dr Denham Parker	fisheries scientist, University of Cape Town
Associate Professor Lindsey Gillson	conservation biologist, University of Cape Town

Next week we start looking in detail at the mass extinction events. The earliest mass extinction, known as the End Ordovician (also called the ‘Ordovician-Silurian’) which happened 443 million years ago (mya); and the second mass extinction event, called the End Devonian around 373 mya. Although these two extinction events are the furthest back in time, they were highly significant events which drove the diversification of life, particularly in the marine environments.