Research Summary

The Mass Extinction Group at UCC studies the responses of land and freshwater ecosystems to Earth’s most extreme environmental changes.

Whether in the deserts, rivers or seas, all life on Earth reflects the environment. By examining the fossils from the worst times in prehistory—when most life on Earth was wiped out—we are discovering how these environments changed, and how the survivors adapted.

Most of these hard times in Earth’s history involve severe and rapid warming. UCC’s Mass Extinction Group is learning how to listen to these lessons from the past, to guide our future in a warming world.