Kundrát´s PaleoBioImaging Lab Evolutionary Biodiversity Research Group

The Martin Kundrát´s research group primarily seeks new data to investigate critical novelties in morphological transitions from terrestrial to flighted and secondary flightless archosaurs. Having gradually built larger virtual datasets, the group is tackling now several issues of macroevolution, especially morphological plasticity, locomotion, reproduction, thermoregulation and genome size variability of archosaur clades over long time scales. The research group conducts several investigations of major evolutionary transitions in vertebrate history with specific focus upon innovative adaptations amongst archosauria. Cross-disciplinary developmental experiments on in vivo embryology combined with deep time perspectives using exceptional fossils are of paramount importance for our frontier research. In collaboration with the synchrotron facilities in Europe, Japan and Australia, Martin takes his opportunity to explore and develop new approaches for high-resolution 3D imaging of fossilized hard and soft tissues of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Martin further focuses on using a diverse array of methods (spectroscopy, nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy, evolutionary morphing, comparative phylogenetics and spatial statistics) and adapting these to seek quantitative interpretations of morphological and physiological innovations in the history of archosaurs. Having a long term goal of exploring less known Mesozoic strata, Martin has developed a fruitful collaboration with several international institutions in China, Japan, USA, Iran, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Korea, and Russia and currently organize expedition projects in Iran and China. The field activities have resulted in description of several new taxa of archosaurs. Martin is the Senior Researcher and Team Leader of Archosaur Evo-Devo Research Group at Centre for Interdisciplinary Biosciences in Košice. He teaches corresponding subjects, supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students at universities in Slovakia and abroad and actively contributes to science popularization.