Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Palaeoecology
Office: BS 4.44 James Parsons Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF
+44 01512312312
C.Meloro@ljmu.ac.uk
Skills
Vertebrate functional anatomy; Mammalian ecology and evolution; Morphometric data capture and analysis; Comparative Methods; GIS; SPSS and R statistical language
Research Interests
My research focuses on three main themes: vertebrate ecomorphology, Quaternary palaeobiology, taxonomy and conservation. Using novel quantitative techniques such as geometric morphometrics and comparative methods I investigate the link between morphological variation and ecological adaptations in living and fossil vertebrates in order to address questions relevant to the evolutionary theory. This approach is applied to deep time fossil record but especially to the Quaternary: a period of controversial interaction between our own species and the extinct megafauna. By elucidating spatial and temporal dynamics of fauna and ancient ecosystems, I aim to promote a fully integrated approach for our understanding of the past, present and future diversity of the vertebrate life.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carlo_Meloro
Research & Professional Activities
2019. Research visit to Madeira (Portugal) for the project “Ecological divergence of coastal populations of Madeiran lizards” (PI: Richard Brown). Pictures also available by Richard Brown.
2017. Research visit to Gorham’s cave complex (Gibraltar), supported by The Calpe conference. This led to collaboration over PhD student Natalie Wilson that I currently co-supervise.
2017. Research visit to Scladina cave archaeological centre. Temporal variation in cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) dentition: The stratigraphic sequence of Scladina Cave, Belgium. Quaternary Science Reviews 205:76-85). This work is equally link to Virtual Museum of Anthropology, a website that showcases the work of LJMU anthropologists
2014. Research visit to Universidad Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil. Funded by British Research Council. Chewing on the trees: Constraints and adaptation in the evolution of the primate mandible. This allowed for the set-up of a research project on marsupials/rodents of South America supported by a NERC facility grant on isotopic data analysis.
Associations
Research Centre for Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology 