Our team studies the connection between Earth and life through geological time; more specifically, our research elucidates the evolutionary and environmental events that have shaped ecosystems through time (usually, but not exclusively, Mesozoic ocean ecosystems). Ancient communities provide vital information about how organisms evolve, adapt, and respond to catastrophes and thus are useful analogues for modern systems. By assessing how fossil organisms interacted with their environment – either succumbing to or surviving sudden environmental events – our research provides critical data about how ecosystems respond to stresses like climate change, ocean acidification, and nutrient pollution. The fossil record of these ancient events provides a roadmap of obstacles that can be used to help protect marine communities today to ensure their future.

Research in the Martindale Lab spans many topics, from reef ecology, to mass extinctions, to exceptional fossil preservation, resulting in numerous publications. Our team is highly interdisciplinary, combining paleontology, sedimentology, biology, geochemistry, and oceanography. We have conducted fieldwork in ten countries in collaboration with colleagues from UT Austin as well as national and international universities and museums.