dr hab. Kenneth De Baets, prof. ucz.

Research interests (Description)

I am an evolutionary paleobiologist documenting and interpreting the relative contributions of abiotic (e.g., climate) and biotic factors (e.g., parasitism) in driving large-scale ecological and evolutionary patterns in the history of life.

Current research focuses on macroecology, biotic interactions, and biomineralization. For example: How does body size distribution and growth respond to climate warming and related environmental stressors? How does parasitism relate to host biodiversity and disease? How does seawater chemistry affect biomineralization of aquatic ectotherms?

For this purpose, I strive to work across disciplines and find means to test hypotheses with different lines of evidence, ranging from evolutionary ecology, over quantitative and molecular (paleo)biology, to developmental paleobiology, (paleo)parasitology and earth sciences.

I also work in other research areas, principally biogeography, biostatistics and geometric morphometrics, environmental analysis, experimental taphonomy and phylogenetic analysis. I remain active and maintain interest in methods (sample preparation and quantitative analyses) used in all these fields. I would therefore be happy to advise students in these and other areas.

Latest student research includes: diversity and body size dynamics of marine invertebrates, Holocene trends in parasite-host prevalence captured in coprolites and skeletal pathologies, 3D-reconstruction and morphometry as well as experimental taphonomy of invertebrates and vertebrates.

Research interests (Summary)

Biomineralization
Body size evolution and loss of complexity
Conservation and Quantitative Paleobiology
Evolution and Fossil Record of Mollusks
Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism
Macroevolution and Ecology of marine invertebrates
Molecular paleobiology and divergence dating

Didactic experience

Analytical Paleobiology
Evolution of Life and Earth System Dynamics
General Paleontology
Macroevolution and Macroecology
Methods in Quantitative Biostratigraphy
Morphology, Systematics and Ecology of Invertebrates
Paleobiodiversity
Paleontological Field Courses
Research Project Design and Implementation

Research projects

PARADIVE: the integrated study of parasitism, biodiversity and environmental change (IDUB under I.3.4 Action of the Excellence Initiative – Research University Programme)
Size reductions during hyperthermal events: early warnings of environmental deterioration or signs of extinction? (DFG 269895748)

Publications

87 entries « ‹ 1 of 2 › »

2023

Klug, Christian; Stevens, Kevin; Hoffmann, René; Zatoń, Michał; Clements, Thomas; Košťák, Martin; Weis, Robert; De Baets, Kenneth; Lehmann, Jens; Vinther, Jakob; Fuchs, Dirk

Revisiting the identification of Syllipsimopodi bideni and timing of the decabrachian-octobrachian divergence Journal Article

In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 8094, 2023, ISSN: 2041-1723.

Links | BibTeX

Barido-Sottani, Joëlle; Pohle, Alexander; De Baets, Kenneth; Murdock, Duncan; Warnock, Rachel C. M.

Putting the F into FBD analysis: tree constraints or morphological data? Journal Article

In: Palaeontology, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. e12679, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12679,

title = {Putting the F into FBD analysis: tree constraints or morphological data?},

author = {Joëlle Barido-Sottani and Alexander Pohle and De Baets, Kenneth and Duncan Murdock and Rachel C. M. Warnock},

url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pala.12679},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12679},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-11-12},

urldate = {2023-11-12},

journal = {Palaeontology},

volume = {66},

number = {6},

pages = {e12679},

abstract = {Abstract The fossilized birth–death (FBD) process provides an ideal model for inferring phylogenies from both extant and fossil taxa. Using this approach, fossils are directly integrated into the tree, leading to a statistically coherent prior on divergence times. Since fossils are typically not associated with molecular sequences, additional information is required to place fossils in the tree. We use simulations to evaluate two different approaches to handling fossil placement in FBD analyses: using topological constraints, where the user specifies monophyletic clades based on established taxonomy, or using total-evidence analyses, which use a morphological data matrix in addition to the molecular alignment. We also explore how rate variation in fossil recovery or diversification rates impacts these approaches. We find that the extant topology is well recovered under all methods of fossil placement. Divergence times are similarly well recovered across all methods, with the exception of constraints which contain errors. We see similar patterns in datasets which include rate variation, however, relative errors in extant divergence times increase when more variation is included in the dataset, for all approaches using topological constraints, and particularly for constraints with errors. Finally, we show that trees recovered under the FBD model are more accurate than those estimated using non-time calibrated inference. Overall, we show that both fossil placement approaches are reliable even when including uncertainty. Our results underscore the importance of core taxonomic research, including morphological data collection and species descriptions, irrespective of the approach to handling phylogenetic uncertainty using the FBD process.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

Nätscher, Paulina S.; Gliwa, Jana; De Baets, Kenneth; Ghaderi, Abbas; Korn, Dieter

Exceptions to the temperature–size rule: no Lilliput Effect in end-Permian ostracods (Crustacea) from Aras Valley (northwest Iran) Journal Article

In: Palaeontology, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. e12667, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Allaire, Ninon; Ginot, Samuel; De Baets, Kenneth; Korn, Dieter; Goudemand, Nicolas; Monnet, Claude; Crônier, Catherine

Morphological disparity of early ammonoids: A geometric morphometric approach to investigate conch geometry Journal Article

In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 193–212, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{allaire2023morphological,

title = {Morphological disparity of early ammonoids: A geometric morphometric approach to investigate conch geometry},

author = {Ninon Allaire and Samuel Ginot and De Baets, Kenneth and Dieter Korn and Nicolas Goudemand and Claude Monnet and Catherine Crônier},

url = {https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app010332022.html},

doi = {10.4202/app.01033.2022},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-07-03},

urldate = {2023-07-03},

journal = {Acta Palaeontologica Polonica},

volume = {68},

number = {2},

pages = {193–212},

abstract = {Fossils of Devonian ammonoids are abundant and well-preserved in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco; as such they provide an invaluable record of regional morphological disparity changes (diversity of shapes) that characterise the first steps of ammonoid evolution. However, they were rarely analysed quantitatively with respect to their morphological spectrum. Here, we investigated the morphological disparity of the Early–Middle Devonian ammonoids of the Moroccan Anti- Atlas by analysing the shape of their whorl profile. A geometric morphometric approach based on the acquisition of outline semilandmark coordinates was used to analyse the whorl profiles. For comparison, morphometric ratios based on classical conch measurements were also analysed to investigate the overall conch geometry. Several standard disparity estimators were computed to measure different aspects of morphological disparity fluctuations through time. It appears that a major increase in disparity occurred throughout the Early Devonian, followed by fluctuating disparity during the Middle Devonian constituting a general decreasing trend. Only the end-Eifelian Kačák Event shows a significant decrease in disparity. Thus, the ammonoids explored the range of possible shapes fairly quickly during their initial radiation; however, we found no evidence for an early burst of shape diversity (i.e., the rise does not exceed the expectations given diversity). Nevertheless, correlation tests between diversity and disparity time series support that they are partially decoupled. The highly resolved biozone record highlights that the increase in disparity began earlier than the increase in diversity that characterises the late Emsian.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}