M.Sc. students

Chantelle R. Edwards

M.Sc. candidate

I’m excited to be returning to academia after a 15-year career in animal management and environmental education. I graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2009 with dual undergraduate degrees; a B.Sc. in Palaeobiology and a B.A. in Spanish Language. I’m excited to blend these skillsets as I pursue a M.Sc. with fieldwork in Argentina.

My previous research was focused on biology, where I explored projects such as assessing ptilochronology (analyzing feather growth as indicators of nutrition and stress in sandhill cranes), and studying the behavioral ecology of feral horses through time budget analysis. Currently, my focus will be examining the neoichnology and ground nesting biology of Colletid bees, particularly within the subfamily Neopasiphaeinae. There will also be an opportunity to make comparisons to fossil bee nests in paleosols to explore behavioural trends in evolution.

Supervisors: Dr. Luis A. Buatois, Dr. M. Gabriela Mángano, Dr. Laura Sarzetti, Dr. Viky Sanchez, Dr. Liliana Cantil

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Jessica Morstad

M.Sc. candidate

I am Jessica Morstad. This summer, I graduated with an Undergraduate Degree in Paleobiology from the University of Saskatchewan. For this degree, I completed a research-based thesis course studying deep-sea infaunal and benthic organisms residing in a submarine canyon off the coast of Victoria British Colombia. With the help of remote technology and Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) databases, my project aimed to quantify how changing environmental conditions (variable turbidity levels) affected benthic communities.

As I enter my master’s degree I will continue my previous research in the Barkley Canyon, focusing on larger-scale biotic and environmental variations throughout submarine canyons. This project heavily relies on the assistance of ONC and the cooperation of several disciplines. Merging modern biology principles with communities of the deep past to evaluate how organisms have historically responded to environmental parameters.

Supervisors: Dr. Gabriela Mángano, Dr. Luis Buatois, Dr. Paulo Vinicius Ferraz Correa, Dr. Fabio Cabrera De Leo

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José Miguel Ferrer Norambuena

M.Sc. candidate

I graduated from the Universidad Austral de Chile with a degree in Geology. My undergraduate thesis focused on the stratigraphic and sedimentological characterization of the Pilauco-Los Notros paleontological site in northwestern Patagonia, based on detailed stratigraphic logging, granulometric datasets, laboratory and statistical analyses. I am currently undertaking my M.Sc. thesis at the University of Saskatchewan, where my research focuses on Upper Devonian-Mississippian glaciomarine successions of the Argentine Precordillera, specifically in the provinces of San Juan and La Rioja. My work integrates sedimentological and ichnological analyses to reconstruct depositional environments and document trace-fossil associations related to glacially influenced marine systems.

Supervisors: Dr. Luis Buatois, Dr. Gabriela Mángano

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Martín Eduardo Schenardi

M.Sc. candidate

My name is Martín Eduardo Schenardi. I graduated from the Universidad Nacional de Río Negro with degrees in Diplomado en Geociencias and Licenciado en Paleontología, which is similar to a bachelor’s degree. I have not previously worked in ichnology or sedimentology; my final assessment for graduation was focused on dinosaurs, where I described some fossil material related to a juvenile sauropod (Neuquensaurus australis). Currently, I am starting to work in the Silurian of the Precordillera in San Juan Province, Argentina. So far, I have begun collecting data from the Los Espejos Formation and the Las Chilcas Formation. My objective is to perform a sedimentological description with consideration of sequential sedimentology and to describe the traces and their associations.

Supervisors: Dr. Luis Buatois, Dr. Gabriela Mángano

Select publications:

Zurriaguz., V; Cerda, I.; Schenardi, M.; Kaluza, J.; García, R. Primer reporte de un ejemplar juvenil de Nequensaurus australis (Sauropoda: Titanosauria). 2019. 2das Jornadas de Paleovertebrados de la Cuenca Neuquina from 31 of october to 2 of november of 2019 en la ciudad de Neuquén.

Schenardi Martin. Caracterización osteológica y ontogenética de un ejemplar juvenil de un saurópodo titanosaurio. 2023. Final degree project. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina.

F. Migliaro, A. Flores, M. L. Diaz, S. Urzagasti-Torres y M. Schenardi. Nuevos restos de Proeutatus sp. para la formación Chichinales, Paso Córdoba, Río Negro, Argentina. 2023. Poster para Reunión de Comunicaciones de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina from 22 to 24 of November of 2023 en la ciudad de General Roca, Río Negro.

P. Citton, M. Caratelli , V. L. Zurriaguz , I. A. Cerda, A. Martinelli, J. Kaluza , J. Aravena , F. Guzmán, W. I. Lagos and M. Schenardi. A Neuquensaurus australis dominated bone-bed from Cinco Saltos (Río Negro, Argentina): first report on fossil biostratinomy. 2023. Reunión de Comunicaciones de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina From 22 to 24 of November of 2023 en la ciudad de General Roca, Río Negro.

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