Upcoming LIFE SCIENCES Seminar

[Statistical Physics]

QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES SEMINAR


Wednesday, 22 October   - 11:00 a.m.*
*

Luigi Stasi Seminar Room, ICTP Leonardo building, first floor


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Speaker:    Andrea BAUCON
                 (Univ. Milano and UNESCO Geopark Naturtejo Meseta 
Meridional, Portugal)

Title:        From worm burrows to dinosaur footprints: An ichnological 
journey into
                 biological behavior


Abstract:

Since Paleolithic times, humans have tried to read biological behavior 
through animal
and plant traces. Over the centuries, this art of survival has evolved 
into a discipline
halfway between Earth Sciences and Life Sciences: Ichnology.
This seminar discusses the fundamentals of the study of traces, 
presenting robust techniques
to decipher the ichnological alphabet – from worm burrows to dinosaur 
footprints. Special
attention will be paid to the application of quantitative techniques 
such as fractal geometry,
network theory and artificial life. Fossil and modern environments will 
be explored, underlining
the (paleo)biological significance of 600 millions of years of 
bioturbation in marine and terrestrial
ecosystems. In fact, burrows, footprints, borings, coprolites are fossil 
behavior and, as such,
they are a valuable tool in sedimentary geology, evolutionary biology 
and paleontology.
<http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.3442>