My Ph.D. project aims to propose a palaeoenvironmental-palaeoclimatic reconstruction of the coastal environments of the Tuscan Pliocene through the studying of fossil record with a multidisciplinary approach.
Some scholars have proposed the Pliocene climate as an analog of that that will characterize the Mediterranean area in the (not-so-far) future. In this basin the ecosystems are dealing with a fierce variety of changes, due to a series of concauses, especially in coastal settings. As an effect of global warming, here the temperatures have increased +1.4°C since the late XIX, that is, significantly more than the global average (+1.1°C). In case of no decarbonization the temperatures are going to increase by an additional 1.5°C by 2050.
In this perspective, the study of Pliocene ecosystems might prove crucial for understanding the future patterns of Mediterranean biodiversity. The Tuscan Pliocene (central Italy) is home to a rich fossil record of vertebrates and invertebrates, mainly from the marine shallows.
Therefore, the Pliocene fossils from selected Tuscan localities (some of which are largely novel to science) are going to be studied from systematic and taphonomic points of view. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic inferences will be drawn based on quantitative palaeoecological methods (including geobiochemistry).
The results will be integrated with other records (sedimentology, micropalaeontology etc.) for refining the stratigraphic correlations between the Pliocene terrestrial and marine records, including a high-resolution reconstruction of the sea-level variations witnessed by the analyzed successions. Ultimately, the project promises to result in the elaboration of a reliable reference point for envisioning the future climatic and environmental evolution of the Mediterranean region, and especially of its coastal quarters, as global and regional warming progresses.
RESEARCH INTEREST
- Palaeoecology
- Taphonomy
- Paleoclimatology
- Biochemistry
- Zooarchaeology
Research project: : Integrated palaeoenvironmental-palaeoclimatic reconstruction of the coastal environments of the Tuscan Pliocene: implications for the future evolution of the Mediterranean region.
Supervisors:
Professor Giovanni Bianucci (DST-UNIPI)
Professor Alberto Collareta (DST-UNIPI)
Dr Luca Pandolfi (DST-UNIPI)
Federica Mulè
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra
Università di Pisa
Via Santa Maria 53
56126 Pisa
Italia