What is this collection about?
Fossils provide evidence for the evolutionary history of plants and animals, documenting the origins of major lineages, the emergence of key biological innovations, and the ecological dynamics of past ecosystems. Through the study of fossil specimens, researchers can examine how biodiversity has changed through time and how species and communities responded to environmental change, biotic interactions, and mass extinction events.
With this Call for Papers, we seek Research Articles that use fossil evidence to address fundamental questions about the biology of ancient plants and animals. We welcome studies spanning all geological periods and taxonomic groups, from invertebrates and vertebrates to terrestrial and marine plants. Particular emphasis will be placed on work that delivers broad biological insights into evolution, ecology, development, functional adaptations, and biodiversity dynamics. However, we also welcome studies reporting exceptionally preserved, rare, or otherwise noteworthy fossil specimens that provide significant new insights into the history of life. We will also consider Reviews, Perspectives and Comments on these topics.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
· Evolution and diversification of plants and animals
· Macroevolution, extinction, and recovery
· Functional biology of extinct organisms
· Paleoecology and ecosystem dynamics
· Biotic interactions and co-evolution
· Responses to environmental change
· Integrative approaches linking fossil and modern biological data
Why submit to a collection?
Collections like this one help promote high-quality science. They are led by In-House Editors who are experts in their fields and supported by a dedicated team of Commissioning Editors and Managing Editors at Springer Nature. Collection manuscripts typically see higher citations, downloads, and Altmetric scores, and provide a one-stop-shop on a cutting-edge topic of interest.
This Collection welcomes submissions from all authors – and not by invitation only – on the condition that the manuscripts fall within the scope of the Collection and of Communications Biology more generally. See our editorial process page for more details. All manuscripts published in the collection are hosted on a dedicated nature portfolio portal, giving articles high visibility beyond the journal they are published in.
Who is involved?
Communications Biology is edited by both in-house professional editors and Editorial Board Members.
Guest Editors
Jennifer Botha, BSc; PhD, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Dr. Jennifer earned her PhD from the University of Cape Town in 2002. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Iziko South African Museum, she was appointed Head of Karoo Palaeontology at the National Museum in Bloemfontein in 2005. Her research focuses on palaeobiology and palaeoecology, with a particular interest in understanding how extinct vertebrates responded to environmental change.
Katie Davis, PhD, University of York, UK
Dr. Katie Davis is a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of York (UK), based in the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity. She is a numerical evolutionary palaeobiologist and her research operates at the interface of Earth and Life Sciences. She is particularly interested in the effects of past climate change on life on Earth and how we can use the geological record to understand, and predict, the effects of present day climate change on the biota.
Jun Liu, PhD, Hefei University of Technology, China
Dr. Jun Liu is the professor and head of the geology division of School of Resources and Environmental Engineering at Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China. His current research focuses on the Triassic marine reptiles, but also involves the biotic response of Cenozoic biotas (crocodilians and other large reptiles, radiolarians, grassland ecosystems etc.) to climate change. He is currently expanding his research interests to include the environmental history, biogeography and conservation biology of large reptiles.
How can I submit my paper?
Visit the Collection page to find out more about this collection and submit your article.