Extinction risk, quantitative biostratigraphy, geographic range, graptolite paleobiology, arthrodire placoderms.
PhD, Graptolite Paleobiology, University at Buffalo – 2018
I am interested in using the fossil record to study patterns of extinction and determining which features of species are most strongly correlated with the risk of extinction. Doing this requires being able to place the timing of events in geologic time precisely and so some of my research involves developing automated biostratigraphic techniques. I am also interested in understanding the paleobiology of arthrodire placoderms, a diverse group of armored fishes which abruptly went extinct at the end of Devonian Period.
Boyle, J., H.D. Sheets, S.-Y. Wu, D. Goldman, M.J. Melchin, R.A. Cooper, P.M. Sadler, and
C.E. Mitchell. 2017. The Impact of Geographic Range, Sampling, Ecology, and
Time on Extinction Risk in the Volatile Clade Graptoloida. Paleobiology 43:85-113.
Boyle, J. and M.J. Ryan. 2017. New information on Titanichthys (Placodermi:Arthrodira)
from the Cleveland Shale (Upper Devonian) of Ohio, USA. Journal of Paleontology
91:318-336.
Boyle, J.T. 2017. Minimum spanning tree distance and other geographic range measures as
proxies for extinction risk – Abstract with Programs – Geological Society of America
49(6).