Richard H. Lindemann

Associate Professor - Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Paleobiology
Email: rlindema@skidmore.edu
Phone: (518) 580-5196
Office Location: Dana 176

 

 

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. 1980, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Major: Geology. Thesis: Paleosynecology and Paleoenvironments of the Onondaga Limestone in New York State
  
• M.S. 1974 - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Major: Geology
• B.S. 1972 - SUNY Oneonta. Major: Liberal Arts Geology
  

COURSES TAUGHT AT SKIDMORE

• GE 102 The History of Earth, Life, and Global Change
• GE 208 Origin and Distribution of Natural Resources
• GE 216 Sedimentology
• GE 310 Paleobiology
• GE 316 Stratigraphy
• SSP 100-13 Earth System Evolution: The First Four Billion Years

RECENT THESIS STUDENTS

• Kasprak A. H., 2008, Nowakia (Dacryoconarida) in the Halihan Hill Bed (Oatka Creek Formation, New York).  Abstracts with Programs,Geological Society of America, v. 40, no. 2, p. 79.  (Alex’s poster presentation won first place among all student presentations at this meeting.)

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Dacryoconarids are an extinct, enigmatic group of marine zooplankters that are the most abundant and among the most diverse organisms of the Devonian Period (408-362 ma.) of Earth history.  My current research centers on the systematics of Middle Devonian dacs for the purpose of seeking patterns in the way(s) in which the marine biosphere responds to geologically abrupt, global-scale environmental perturbations such as climate change, oxygen depletion, or the immigration of exotic species.

WHY DOES IT INTEREST YOU?

On the one hand, the dacs have of eastern North America have been pretty much ignored by paleobiologists since the late 1800s while the Europeans have named and described dozens of genera and scores of species since that time.  It is a great adventure to discover new species and to compare the American faunas with those of Europe and North Africa.  On the other hand, because the dacs are a terminally extinct group with no living relatives even at the phylum level, it is also a great adventure to try and sleuth out what kind of animal they were and to study their paleoecology.  On yet another hand, assuming one is allowed, my primary objective is to study the nature of change itself, specifically the tempos and causes of species’ evolution and extinction on regional and global scales.