Alejandro Corrales Garcia
Ph.D. candidate
During my undergraduate studies, I engaged in diverse research endeavors. On one front, I explored the biogeography of snakes, while concurrently delving into research on paleoecology and the functional morphology of trilobites. This led me to obtain a dual bachelor’s degree in biology and Geology from the University of the Andes (Colombia). Subsequently, I pursued a Master of Science degree in Paleobiology as part of the Programme PANGEA, offered jointly by the University of Lille (France) and Uppsala University (Sweden). Here, under the guidance of Jorge Esteve, I further honed my expertise in the 3D modelling of Trilobites.
My fascination with ichnology, sparked by a serendipitous encounter with dinosaur footprints in my native Colombia, has been a driving force in my academic journey. This passion led me to embark on a Master of Science in Palaeobiology and subsequently pursue a Ph.D. in this captivating field at the University of Saskatchewan. My current PhD project aims to elucidate how trace fossils in Burgess Shale-type deposits contribute crucial insights into Cambrian ecology at community and ecosystem levels.
Supervisors: Dr. Gabriela Mángano and Dr. Luis Buatois
Featured Publications:
Corrales-García, A., Esteve, J., Zhao, Y. and Yang, X., 2020. Synchronized moulting behaviour in trilobites from the Cambrian Series 2 of South China. Scientific Reports, 10(1), p.14099.
Noè, L.F., Gómez–Pérez, M., Rodríguez, J.V., Corrales–García, A. and Caranton–Mateus, W.G., 2020. Dinosaur footprints from the Lower Cretaceous, Batá Formation, Colombia (South America), and the possible interchange of large ornithopods between southern Laurasia and northern Gondwana. The Geology of Colombia, 2, pp.375-401.
Rodriguez-Corcho, A.F., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Barrera-Gonzalez, J.A., Marroquin-Gomez, M.P., Bonilla-Correa, S., Izquierdo-Camacho, D., Delgado-Balaguera, S.M., Cartwright-Buitrago, D., Munoz-Granados, M.D., Caranton-Mateus, W.G. and Corrales-Garcia, A., 2022. The Colombian geochronological database (CGD). International Geology Review, 64(12), pp.1635-1669.
Dmitri Ponomarenko
Ph.D. candidate
I studied Geology and Physical Geography for my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Toronto, and also became interested in Zoology when it was too late to switch subjects. I have been able to combine my interest in geology, soil science, and zoology by studying mammal burrows in modern soils and Quaternary paleosols. My master’s thesis at Carleton University (Ottawa), supervised by Natalia Rybczynski, dealt with the neoichnology of rodent burrows. I then continued work on mammal burrows under the supervision of Alexander Agadjanyan at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow, Russia, where I built up a large reference collection of mammal burrows cast with plaster in the field. I have also worked with archaeological, geological and soil science expeditions throughout Russia in order to study Quaternary fossil and subfossil burrows. For my thesis, I will be working on ichnotaxobases and taphonomy of fossil and subfossil mammal burrows, as well as analyzing bioglyphs for tracemaker identification and interpretation of digging behaviour.
Ph.D. thesis: Quaternary rodent burrows
Supervisors: Dr. Luis Buatois and Dr. M. Gabriela Mángano
Featured Publications:
Ponomarenko, D.S., 2023. Fossil Burrows from the Eopleistocene Paleoichnological Locality of Sopaty Kurgan. Paleontological Journal, 57(3), pp.343-352.
Ponomarenko, D., 2019. The Temijbek ichnological site from the Early Pleistocene of the Caucasus foreland (Russia): Taphonomy and identification of fossil burrows. Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geowissenschaften/Beiheft, 46, pp.79-83.
Ponomarenko, D. and Ponomarenko, E., 2019. Describing krotovinas: A contribution to methodology and interpretation. Quaternary international, 502, pp.238-245.
Zane Goodell
Ph.D. candidate
I’m an American paleontology/ichnology student born in New Mexico and raised in Colorado. My passion for the ancient world began with weekly trips to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and has persisted to this day. I received a bachelor’s degree from Fort Lewis College in Geology and completed a thesis project on the longest dinosaur trackway in the world. This project eventually became a published article with the help of Dr. Martin Lockley.
I am a recent graduate from the PANGEA Erasmus Mundus Master’s program, specializing in paleobiology. My thesis project, advised by Dr. Sören Jensen and Dr. Graham Budd involved the comparison of various genera of Paleozoic spreiten ichnofossils (Syringomorpha, Alectorurus, Daedalus) to draw conclusions about their affinity, behavior, and their relationship to the evolving ecology of the Paleozoic.
Currently, I’m working on trace fossils from Ordovician organic-rich deposits in Saskatchewan and Estonia.
Thesis: Trace fossils in Ordovician organic-rich deposits
Supervisors: Dr. Gabriela Mángano, Dr. Luis Buatois
Featured Publications:
Goodell, Z. G., M. G. Lockley, S. G. Lucas, B. A. Schumacher, J. A. Smith, R. Trujillo, and L. Xing. 2021. A high-altitude sauropod trackway site in the Jurassic of Colorado: the longest known consecutive footprint sequence reveals evidence of strong turning behavior; pp. 12 in S. G. Lucas, A. P. Hunt, and A. J. Lichtig (eds.), Fossil Record 7. New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Albuquerque.
Lockley, M. G., Z. G. Goodell, J. Evaskovich, A. Krall, B. A. Schumacher, and A. Romilio. 2021. Small bird and mammal tracks from a mid-Cenozoic volcanic province in Southern Colorado: implications for palaeobiology. Historical Biology 1–11.
Kai Zhou
Ph.D. candidate
I did my Master’s of Geology and Bachelor’s of Geological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan and China University of Petroleum (Beijing) respectively. I am a carbonate sedimentologist, interested in mud-mound reefs particularly. I found ichnology a very powerful tool in the study of both sedimentology and evolutional geology after helping Luis and Gabriela with tons of drawings and data organization in their ichnological papers. I would like to provide detailed documentation and further understanding of trace fossils in the essentially underexplored carbonate systems from an ichnological perspective.
Thesis: Trace fossil distribution in shallow-marine carbonate sedimentary rocks, Miocene example in Las Negras area, southeastern Spain, and a review of their Phanerozoic evolution in carbonate systems
Supervisors: Dr. Luis Buatois and Dr. M. Gabriela Mángano
Featured Publications:
Zhou, K., & Pratt, B. R. (2019). Composition and origin of stromatactis‐bearing mud‐mounds (Upper Devonian, Frasnian), southern Rocky Mountains, western Canada. Sedimentology, 66(6), 2455-2489.
Zhou, K., & Pratt, B. R. (2019). Upper Devonian (Frasnian) stromatactis-bearing mud mounds, western Alberta, Canada: reef framework dominated by peloidal microcrystalline calcite. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 89(9), 833-848.
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