 |
 |
|
Department of Geology
Information:Contact information:Office:
Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a (P.O.Box 64) FI-00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND tel. +358-9-19150828 fax +358-9-19150826 eMail: Professor Juha Karhu, Ph.D. Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a (P.O.Box 64) FI-00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND tel. +358-9-19150834 fax +358-9-19150826 eMail: |
 |
Mikael Fortelius, Ph.D.
Research interests:
Teaching topics:
Research Statement:I’m a palaeontologist with special interest in plant-eating mammals and their relationship with habitat and climate change. I’m particularly fascinated by mammalian teeth, how they form, how they work, how they wear down, and how their shapes evolve in evolutionary time. My first academic training was in biology, and my teacher in palaeontology was Björn Kurtén, who had a deeply organismic attitude to fossils. I carry with me a conviction that past organisms and ecosystems can only really be understood in relation to the living world. Even more strongly I feel that we cannot hope to understand the living world without sound and detailed knowledge of its stupendously long history. I’m somewhat passionate about resolving fossil data geographically and estimating the population sizes as well as the numbers of extinct species. I started out as a lonesome specialist on fossil rhinoceroses and pigs, but most of my later research has been collaborative. It currently includes seven main areas: deep time palaeoecology and evolution of mammal communities, especially of Eurasia during the last 24 million years; ecometrics of mammalian teeth, especially palaeodiet reconstruction; multidisciplinary fieldwork, most recently in the late Miocene (12 to 5 million years ago) of North China; exploration of modern computational methods for the analysis of large palaeontological datasets (e.g., temporal seriation and analysis of spatial patterns); palaeoclimate reconstruction and modelling; environmental controls on the spatial distribution of modern species and communities; and scaling questions, especially of mammalian teeth and sense organs. I also participate in work on developmental biology and evolution of mammalian teeth. Since 1992, I’ve been the coordinator of a public database of Neogene Old World Mammals. I’m also part of the MorphoBrowser project, a public database of 3D tooth shape. I try to speak intelligently in public about evolution, including human origins, for example at the bi-annual Science Forum in Helsinki and recently on Darwin Day in Oslo. I’ve also participated in the production of educational programmes and documentaries, including Walking with Beasts of the BBC and Discovery Channel. Among other things I’m also a Member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters as well as the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Chair of the National IUBS Committee of Finland, and Editor (one of many) of Evolutionary Ecology Research. Recent publications:List of Selected Publications Eronen, J.T., Mirzaie Ataabadi, M., Micheels, A., Karme, A., Bernor, R.L. & Fortelius, M., 2009: Distribution history and climatic controls of the Late Miocene Pikermian chronofauna. Liu, L., Eronen, J.T. & Fortelius, M., 2009: Signi?cant mid-latitude aridity in the middle Miocene of East Asia. Liow, L. H., Fortelius, M., Lintulaakso, K., Mannila, H. & Stenseth, N. C., 2009: Lower extinction risk in sleep-or-hide mammals. Heikinheimo, H., Fortelius, M., Eronen, J. & Mannila, H., 2008: Response to Gagné & Proulx: Clusterings should not be compared by visual inspection. Passey, B.H., Ayliffe, L. K., Kaakinen, A., Zhang, Z., Eronen, J. T., Zhu, Y., Zhou, L., Cerling, T. E. & Fortelius, M., 2008: Strengthened East Asian summer monsoons during a period of high-latitude warmth? Isotopic evidence from Mio-Pliocene fossil mammals and soil carbonates from northern China. Zhu, Y., Zhou, L., Mo, D., Kaakinen, A., Zhang, Z. & Fortelius, M., 2008: A new magnetostratigraphic framework for the late Neogene Hipparion Red Clay in the eastern Loess Plateau of China. Evans, A. R. & Fortelius, M., 2008: Three-dimensional reconstruction of tooth relationships during carnivoran chewing. Liu, L., Zhang, Z., Cui, N., Fortelius, M., 2008: The Dipodidae (Jerboas) from Loc.30 of Baode and their environmental significance. Liow, L. H., Fortelius, M., Bingham, E., Lintulaakso, K., Mannila, H., Flynn, L. & Stenseth, N. C., 2008: Higher originaltion and extinction rates in larger mammals. Liow, L. H., Fortelius, M., Bingham, E., Lintulaakso, K., Mannila, H., Flynn, L. & Stenseth, 2008: Sleep or hide, better for survival anytime (reply to Casanovas-Vilar et al.). DeMiguel, D., Fortelius, M., Azanza, B. & Morales, J., 2008: Ancestral feeding state of ruminants reconsidered: earliest grazing adaptation claims mixed condition for Cervidae. Bingham, E., Kabán, A. & Fortelius, M., 2007: The aspect Bernoulli model: multiple causes of presences and absences. Passey, B., Eronen, J. T., Fortelius, M. & Zhang, Z. 2007: Paleodiets and paleoenvironments of Late Miocene gazelles from North China: evidence from stable carbon isotopes. Heikinheimo, H., M. Fortelius, J. Eronen & H. Mannila. 2007. Biogeography of European land mammals shows environmentally distinct and spatially coherent clusters. Evans, A.R., G. P. Wilson, M. Fortelius & J. Jernvall. 2007. High-level similarity of dentitions in carnivorans and rodents. Fortelius, M., J. T. Eronen, L. Liu, D. Pushkina, A. Tesakov, I. A. Vislobokova & Z. Zhang. 2006. Late Miocene and Pliocene large land mammals and climatic changes in Eurasia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 238:219-227 [PDF] Fortelius M., Gionis A., Jernvall, J. & Mannila H., 2006: Spectral ordering and biochronology of European fossil mammals. Fortelius, M. & Zhang, Z. 2006. An Oasis in the Desert? History of Endemism and Climate in the Late Neogene of North China. Puolamäki K., Fortelius M. & Mannila H. 2006: Seriation in paleontological data using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. Evans A.R., Hunter J., Fortelius M. & Sanson G.D. 2005. The scaling of tooth sharpness in mammals. Fortelius M., Armour-Chelu M., Bernor R. & Fessaha N. 2005: Systematics and paleobiology of the Rudabánya Suidae. Jokela, T., J. T. Eronen, A. Kaakinen, L. Liu, B. Passey, Z. Zhang, & M. Fu. 2005: Translation of Otto Zdansky’s ”The Localities of the Hipparion Fauna in Baode County in N. W. Shanxi“ (1923) from the German. Liu, L., D. Kostopoulos, & M. Fortelius, 2005. The late Miocene mammal locality of Akkasdagi, Turkey: X. Suidae. Pihlström, H. M. Fortelius, S. Hemilä, R. Forsman and T. Reuter. 2005. Scaling of mammalian ethmoid bones can predict olfactory organ size and performance. Ukkonen, A., M. Fortelius, & H. Mannila. 2005. Finding partial orders from unordered 0-1 data. Fortelius, M., J. T. Eronen, L. Liu, D. Pushkina, A. Tesakov, I. A. Vislobokova, & Z. Zhang. 2004: Continental-scale hypsodonty patterns, climatic palaeobiogeography, and dispersal of Eurasian Neogene large mammal herbivores. Pages 1-11 Jernvall, J. & M. Fortelius. 2004: Maintenance of trophic structure in fossil mammal communities: site occupancy and taxon resilience. Liu, L., D. Kostopolous, & M. Fortelius, 2004: Late Miocene Microstonyx remains (Suidae, Mammalia) from Northern China. Steininger, F. F., Kovar-Eder, J. & Fortelius, M. (eds.), 2004: The middle Miocene environments and ecosystem dynamics of the Eurasian Neogene (EEDEN). Fortelius, M., J. Kappelman, S. Sen, & R. L. Bernor (eds.) 2003: Geology and Paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey. Kaiser, T.M. & Fortelius, M., 2003: Differential mesowear in occluding upper and lower molars – opening mesowear analysis for lower molars and premolars in hypsodont horses. Jernvall, J. & M. Fortelius, 2002: Common mammals drive the evolutionary increase of hypsodonty in the Neogene. Fortelius, M., J. T. Eronen, J. Jernvall, L. Liu, D. Pushkina, J. Rinne, A. Tesakov, I. A. Vislobokova, Z. Zhang, & L. Zhou, 2002: Fossil Mammals Resolve Regional Patterns of Eurasian Climate Change During 20 Million Years. Liu, L., M. Fortelius & M. Pickford. 2002: New fossil Suidae from Shanwang, Shandong, China. Zhang, Z., A. W. Gentry, A. Kaakinen, L. Liu, J. P. Lunkka, Z. Qiu, S. Sen, R. S. Scott, L. Werdelin, S. Zheng, & M. Fortelius. 2002: Land mammal faunal sequence of the late Miocene of China: New evidence from Lantian, Shaanxi Province. Fortelius, M. & A. Hokkanen. 2001: The trophic context of hominoid occurrence in the later Miocene of western Eurasia – a primate-free view. pp. 19-47 Fortelius, M. & Solounias, N. 2000. Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion-attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. Jernvall, J., J. P. Hunter & M. Fortelius. 2000: Trends in the evolution of molar crown types in ungulate mammals: evidence from the northern hemisphere. Pp. 269-281 The List of Selected Publications
Back to the Department's Teachers and researchers. Last updated: 2009-09-23 | Content updated: 2007-05-24
|
