Chris’ research is primarily based on evolutionary and extinction events fossil foraminifera. Planktonic foraminifera are one of the most important fossil groups for evolutionary studies as they are well-preserved, have an extensive and complete fossil record, and are found in huge abundances. This enables the evolutionary trends to be investigated at both a temporal scale (over millions of years) and at a population level. He uses morphometrics to conduct high-resolution biostratigraphy and assess evolution and extinction dynamics on fossil populations. He also investigates morphological change in foraminifera using geochemical and morphometric data to test functional morphology hypotheses.
Full reference:
Spezzaferri, S., Kucera, M, Pearson, P. N., Wade, B. S., Rappo, S., Poole, C. R., Morard, R. & Stalder, C. 2015. Fossil and Genetic Evidence for the Polyphyletic Nature of the Planktonic foraminifera “Globigerinoides”, and description of the new genus Trilobatus. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0128108.