Michael J. Foote

Michael Joseph Foote (born June 7, 1963 in West Islip , New York ) is an American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist.

Foote studied geosciences from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in 1985 and evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago with a master's degree in 1988 and a PhD in 1989. His doctoral thesis was entitled Morphologic evolution of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites . He was then assistant professor at Wake Forest University, was assistant professor and curator at the University of Michigan from 1990 and associate professor from 1994 and professor at the University of Chicago from 2000. From 2006 to 2015 he was head of geosciences. He is on the Committee for Evolutionary Biology and also at the Field Museum in Chicago.

He deals with paleobiology, paleobiogeography and macroevolution, examining, among other things, the morphological diversification of trilobites and starfish, the estimation of gaps in fossil tradition and the influence of the environment on extinction rates. Foote also dealt with mathematical modeling of evolution.

In 2000 he received the Charles Schuchert Award . He is a Fellow of the Paleontological Society .

Fonts (selection)

• with Arnold I. Miller : Principles of Paleontology, 3rd edition, Freeman 2007
• Survivorship analysis of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites, Palaeobiology, Volume 14, 1988, pp. 258-271
• Morphological patterns of diversification: Examples from trilobites, Palaeontology, Volume 34, 1991, pp. 461-485
• with Stephen J. Gould : Cambrian and recent morphological diversity, Science, Volume 258, 1992, p. 1816
• Models of morphological diversification, in: David Jablonski , DH Erwin, JH Lipps (eds.), Evolutionary Paleobiology, University of Chicago Press 1996, pp. 62-86
• The evolution of morphological diversity, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Volume 28, 1997, pp. 129-152
• with SE Peters:. Determinants of extinction in the fossil record, Nature, Volume 416, 2002, pp. 420-424.
• Origination and extinction through the Phanerozoic: a new approach. Journal of Geology, Vol. 111, 2003, pp. 125-148.
• with AI Miller: Increased longevities of post-Paleozoic marine genera after mass extinctions, Science, Volume 302, 2003, pp. 1030-1032.
• with John Alroy a . a .: Phanerozoic trends in the global diversity of marine invertebrates, Science, Volume 321, 2008, pp. 97-100
• with AI Miller: Epicontinental seas versus open-ocean settings: the kinetics of mass extinction and origination, Science, Volume 326, 2009, pp. 1106-1109.
• with W. Kiessling, C. Simpson: Reefs as cradles of evolution and sources of biodiversity in the Phanerozoic, Science, Volume 327, 2010, pp. 196-198.
• The geologic history of biodiversity, in: MA Bell, D. Futuyama, W. Eanes, J. Levinton (Eds.), Evolution since Darwin. The first 150 years, Sinauer Assoc. 2010, pp. 479-510
• Evolutionary Dynamics of taxonomic structure, Biology Letters, Volume 8, 2012, pp. 135-148
• Environmental controls on geographic range size in marine animal genera, Paleobiology, Volume 40, 2012, pp. 440-458.
• with KA Ritterbush, AI Miller: Geographic ranges of genera and their constituent species: structure, evolutionary dynamics, and extinction resistance. Paleobiology, Volume 42, 2016, pp. 269-288.
• with JS Crampton, RA Cooper, PM Sadler: Greenhouse-icehouse transition in the Late Ordovician marks a step change in extinction regime in the marine plankton. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Volume 113. 2016, pp. 1498-1503.

In 2002 he and David Jablonski published the A compendium of fossil marine animal genera by Jack Sepkoski .

Web links

• Homepage University of Chicago