Dean's Seminar: Cold, Hard Science: The Antarctic Paleontological Expedition 2016-2017

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

3:30 PM-5:00 PM

Ted Daeschler, PhD, associate professor, Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science

Ted Daeschler, PhD, will recount his remarkable Antarctic research adventure in the Transantarctic Mountains of Southern Victoria Land. Working out of McMurdo Station, Daeschler and his team spent three weeks exploring the polar desert, which has seen very little paleontological exploration. Previous discoveries from the northern hemisphere have motivated paleobiogeographic questions about biotic evolution within the southern landmasses from the Devonian Period (420-360 million-years ago) — a time that witnessed profound diversification in the form and function of aquatic vertebrates, including the origin of limbed forms.

Daeschler’s field work revealed productive Middle Devonian sites with a wide variety of fossil vertebrates from ancient freshwater ecosystems. With their findings now back in Philadelphia, the team is working toward the ultimate goal of piecing together the paths of evolutionary change.

The College of Arts and Sciences' Dean's Seminars are free and open to the Drexel community. Light refreshments will be served.