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Friday Earth Sciences Talk by Dr Lydian Boschman

Biodiversity is unevenly distributed across the globe. On a global scale, species richness is correlated with present-day environmental factors, such as climate or topographic heterogeneity. On a regional scale, however, there are many biodiversity anomalies, and these are primarily found in geologically complex regions such as archipelagos, mountain ranges or volcanic provinces. Such regions are characterized by major environmental changes throughout geological time, which suggests that understanding the complexities of biodiversity requires understanding geological history.

My research focuses on reconstructing paleogeographic and paleoclimatic history of regions of anomalous biodiversity, with the aim of understanding why life in these regions is the way it is, and how it evolved in response to environmental changes over time. In this FEST, I will summarize my past and ongoing research by zooming in on two biodiversity hotspots: the Andes, where groups of species diversified as the mountains rose, and the Pacific island of New Caledonia, where life evolved in an isolated yet dynamic environment, far away from major landmasses.

With the Friday Earth Sciences Talks (FEST) we intend to bring the departments of Earth Sciences and Physical Geography together. The aim is to present (mostly) Utrecht-based Earth Sciences in an accessible way in order i) to stay familiar with each other’s work across disciplines and ii) to help (in particular MSc.) students in their orientation on possible graduation specialisations and future careers. Alumni are also invited.