Qualifications
- BSc (University of Leeds)
- PhD / DPhil (University of Leeds)
- PCAP (University of Hull)
Summary
I work on mass extinctions. Over the past twenty years I have been lucky enough to travel to >30 countries to collect rocks and fossils that help me and my collaborators understand what drove some of the greatest biotic catastrophes of the past ~444 million years. In the past few years I have been working on three crises that occurred between the Middle Permian (~262 Ma) and end Triassic (~201 Ma) - an interval of extremes of climate, extinction and evolution. My focus has been the Boreal Realm of northern high latitudes and I have spent a lot of time in the Canadian and Russian Arctic and Svalbard. In a bid to do fieldwork somewhere warmer I am a Co-Investigator on a large NERC-funded project gathering data on evolution, extinction and environmental change through the entire Devonian Period in northern Spain.
Prior to moving to Hull I worked at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, and before that, down the M62 in Leeds. As well as collecting rocks from interesting places, like many a geologist I like cricket and beer. I have qualifications in both!
I teach on Hull's Earth & Environmental Science and Geography programmes. I am module leader for Rocks, Minerals and Fossils, Anthropocene, and Earth Resources and I also teach on Geoscience Field Course, Sedimentology, Earth Evolution, and Geological Mapping Dissertation, amongst others.
I am the Schools Liaison Officer for the School of Environmental Sciences.
Journal Article
Onset of large-scale terrestrial organic carbon burial driven by Early Devonian changes in vascular plants and environments
Yin, L., Yang, M., Lu, J., Ling, Z., Hu, X., Bian, X., Zhou, K., Zhang, P., Liu, L., Shao, L., Hilton, J., & Bond, D. (2025). Onset of large-scale terrestrial organic carbon burial driven by Early Devonian changes in vascular plants and environments. Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 674, Article 113039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113039
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the marine nitrogen cycle during the end-Triassic mass extinction
Li, J., Song, H., Du, Y., Wignall, P. B., Bond, D. P., Grasby, S. E., Song, H., Dal Corso, J., Tian, L., & Chu, D. (2025). Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the marine nitrogen cycle during the end-Triassic mass extinction. Chemical Geology, 682, Article 122752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2025.122752
A palynological investigation of the Early-Middle Devonian transition and associated Choteč Event in Northern Spain
Lopes, G., Blanco-Ferrera, S., Bond, D. P., Greene, S. E., Hilton, J., Marshall, J. E., Sanz-López, J., & Wellman, C. H. (2025). A palynological investigation of the Early-Middle Devonian transition and associated Choteč Event in Northern Spain. Review of palaeobotany and palynology, 332, Article 105222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105222
Re-evaluating Water Column Reoxygenation during the End Permian Mass Extinction
Yang, F., Li, S., An, K. Y., Bond, D. P., Ao, R., Wu, X. B., Ma, L. L., & Sun, Y. D. (2024). Re-evaluating Water Column Reoxygenation during the End Permian Mass Extinction. Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems G³, 25(10), Article e2024GC011779. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011779
Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction
Sun, Y., Farnsworth, A., Joachimski, M. M., Wignall, P. B., Krystyn, L., Bond, D. P., Ravidà, D. C., & Valdes, P. J. (2024). Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction. Science, 385(6714), 1189-1195. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado2030
Research interests
Mass extinctions through Earth history, with particular focus on the role of volcanism, global warming, marine anoxia, and acidification in Earth's greatest catastrophes.
Lead investigator
Project
Funder
Grant
Started
Status
Project
Death in the abyss: the Permian-Triassic mass extinction and recovery record of the southern oceans (New Zealand-Aotearoa)
Funder
The Royal Society
Grant
£12,000.00
Started
31 March 2024
Status
Ongoing
Project
Ecological response to environmental change in the Boreal Realm and the origins of three mass extinction events
Funder
Natural Environment Research Council
Grant
£595,595.99
Started
1 August 2013
Status
Complete
Project
Volcanic and climatic impacts on Permian biota across Russian ecological zones
Funder
The Royal Society
Grant
£12,000.00
Started
1 August 2015
Status
Complete
Project
The Devonian Mass Extinctions: cataclysm or death by a thousand cuts?
Funder
Natural Environment Research Council
Grant
£45,780.00
Started
1 November 2020
Status
Complete
Project
Environmental change, evolution and extinction in the Triassic of northwest Pangaea
Funder
The Palaeontological Association
Grant
£5,861.00
Started
1 June 2021
Status
Complete
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome enquiries in all areas of palaeontology, palaeobiology and sedimentology, in particular those related to the study of mass extinctions.
Recent PhD supervisions:
Jenny James (2018-2022): Ecological Responses to Climate Change: Using the Common Ragworm (Hediste diversicolor) as an Indicator for Benthic Ecosystems
Charlotte Stephenson (2013-2017), Flora, Firesand Phytoliths: An Integrated Approach to Devonian Terrestrialisation