Directory of Experts
Details for Professor Mike Benton
| Personal details | |
| Name | Professor Mike Benton |
| Job title | Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology |
| Department | School of Earth Sciences University of Bristol |
| Personal web page | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/people/mike-j-benton/overview.html |
| Contact details | This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations
Office. To help us deal with your request, please mention the Directory of Experts when contacting the Public Relations Office. work+44 (0)117 331 8092 email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk |
| Qualifications | B.Sc.(Aberd.), Ph.D.(N'cle) |
| Professional details | |
| Keywords | diversification of life Triassic ecosystem evolution basal diapsid phylogeny basal archosaurs end-Permian mass extinction tree of life fossil records vertebrate palaeontology |
| Areas of expertise | My interests include the diversification of life through time, quality of the fossil record, shapes of phylogenies, age-clade congruence, mass extinctions, Triassic ecosystem evolution, basal diapsid phylogeny, basal archosaurs and the origin of the dinosaurs. Current research projects focus on the end-Permian mass extinction, the greatest mass extinction of all time, and especially its effects on terrestrial organisms. This involves fieldwork in Russia. I am also working on large-scale aspects of dating the tree of life, and the use of phylogenetic means to assess the quality of the rock and fossil records. |