Testing Evolutionary Models of Survival and Recovery

Aim/rationale: The project's main goal is to shed light on vertebrate community evolution during a time of continuing environmental instability of the end-Permian mass extinction event in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. By investigating two proxies, I aim to elucidate which morphological traits (body size and Lilliput effect) and community structures (calcium and strontium isotopes) conferred success on vertebrates and may have promoted ecosystem recovery during the extreme conditions of the Early Triassic.