We know that physical, chemical, and geological processes work the same way now as they have worked in the past, millions of years ago. At the same time, we know that biological species continuously evolve, that species go extinct and new species appear. This project will investigate how functioning of terrestrial ecosystems change over long times. We will integrate and analyse the mammalian and plant fossil record of the Turkana Basin in East Africa over the last 30 million years to answer whether functional relationships between plant and mammal communities change over time, and if they do, are certain kinds of relationships more constant than others? This will help to understand what kind of terrestrial ecosystems are viable in general and could be sustainable in the future.

2023

2027