Footprints, Flamingos, and Climate Change: Understanding (and Communicating) the Climate Crisis through Fossil Records

Event Type: 
Professional Seminar
Date: 
Monday, April 29, 2024 - 12:20pm
Universidad de Buenos Aire
Location: 
Morrill 129 and Zoom

The fossil record yields an abundance of organismal traces, furnishing invaluable insights into the environmental conditions of their respective habitats. Such comprehension facilitates the development of ecological and environmental models for past ecosystems. Notably, flamingos thrive in habitats characterized by specific salinity and depth parameters, their tracks serving as poignant indicators of these distinctive environments. Tracking their presence affords us the opportunity to reconstruct the evolution of environments such as rivers and lagoons. Beyond their ecological significance, flamingos captivate public imagination, they are charismatic animals. Utilizing flamingos as compelling narrative devices, we can effectively elucidate the ramifications of climate change on contemporary ecosystems. Consequently, these footprints transcend their mere scientific import, evolving into potent communicative tools. They profoundly aid in conveying the imperative nature of studying fossilized footprints and their implications for pertinent issues, such as the current climate crisis.

 

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