McGill University
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Hans Larsson
Start: 2024-09-01
End: 2026-04-30
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Project

Evolution of North American Trophic Networks through the Cenozoic
For my MSc research, I use the fossil record to understand the drivers of long-term ecosystem network evolution. Specifically, I analyze data from extinct ecosystems over the past 66 million years in North America to understand how and why species interaction networks change over long timescales. I first predict the network structure of over 250 fossil mammal communities using characteristics of each fossil species, and then quantitatively describe the changes in ecosystem network structure over the past 66 million years in North America. Next, using the same dataset, I focus on ecosystem networks during greenhouse climatic conditions and examine if modern latitudinal patterns in species interactions still hold under different temperature and light regimes. Finally, I explore the dataset of 250 fossil networks and quantitatively assess how different biotic and abiotic drivers may promote their stability and resilience.

Keywords

Trophic network, food chain, macroecology, macroevolution, Cenozoic

Publications

1- Description of a tetrapod trackway from the early Carboniferous Bonaventure Formation of New Brunswick, Canada
Bateman, Louis-Philippe, Richard Cloutier, Hans C.E. Larsson
2024 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences

2- The first Otodus megalodon remains from Canada and their predicted range limit
Bateman, Louis-Philippe, Hans C.E. Larsson
2024 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences