Curator/Professor Emeritus

His research: "I'm interested in how large-scale changes to the environment affect the ecology and distribution of mammals. Good examples are the effects of global warming and habitat fragmentation. I investigate these changes by looking at similar events in the past, and how they affected communities of mammals."

Why UCMP? "To do my work, I need to have access to exceptionally good collections of fossil materials and to people who have intellectual expertise relating to what I am studying, particularly in areas such as ecology and evolution. That's certainly the case here. And not only do I have access to UCMP's outstanding fossil collections, but I can also do comparative work with recent mammal collections housed in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology."

Visit the Barnosky Lab Web pages to read more!

Read more about Tony's research in this February 2006 web article.

Listen to a BBC radio broadcast (May 2012) about the possibility of our being in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.

Selected Publications

• Zalasiewicz, J., C.N. Waters, M. Williams, A.D. Barnosky, A. Cearreta, P. Crutzen, E. Ellis, M.A. Ellis, I.J. Fairchild, J. Grinevald , P.K. Haff, I. Hajdas, R. Leinfelder, J. McNeill, E.O. Odada, C. Poirier, D. Richter, W. Steffen, C. Summerhayes, J.P.M. Syvitski, D. Vidas, M. Wagreich, S.L. Wing, A.P. Wolfe, A. Zhishengw, N. Oreskes. 2015. When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid - twentieth century boundary level is stratigraphically optimal. Quaternary International (2014, early online edition). Read it

• Barnosky, A.D., E.L. Lindsey, N.A. Villavicencio, J.E. Bostelmann, E.A. Hadly, J. Wanket, C.R. Marshall,. 2015. Variable impact of Late Quaternary defaunation in causing ecological state shifts in North and South America. PNAS 201505295 Read it

• Barnosky, A.D. 2015. Transforming the global energy system is required to avoid the sixth mass extinction. Materials Research Society Energy and Sustainability: A Review Journal. doi:10.1557/mre.2015.11. Read it

• Spano, N., H.S. Bhullar, E.L. Lindsey, N. Villavicencio, A.D. Barnosky. 2015. The ecological consequences of late-Quaternary megafaunal extirpations in southern Brazil. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. Dallas, TX. October 2015.

• Lindsey, E.L., N.A. Villavicencio, A.D. Barnosky, C.R. Marshall. The disappearance of Pleistocene megafauna from the South American pampas and the effects of different analytical methods on interpreting extinction dynamics. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. Dallas, TX. October 2015.