California sheephead swims in kelp forest in Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, image by Robert Schwemmer/NOAA.
We are studying the key transitions in the evolution of life on Earth and predicting the impact of environmental change in the future.
We are experiencing a period of unprecedented global environmental change.
From the origins of the solar system to the evolution of new species, our work and collections are helping us understand the response of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems to this change.
Extraterrestrial H20 hunters
Our planetary geologists are exploring new analytical techniques to determine the origins and history of water on planet Earth.
Size matters: responding to environmental change
Museum palaeontologists are predicting the impact of our rapidly changing climate on body size using well-preserved fossils.
PREDICTS: big data on biodiversity
PREDICTS uses data on local biodiversity around the world to model how human activities affect biological communities.
UK seaweed biodiversity and conservation
The Museum's algal herbarium is particularly rich in marine algal collections from the UK. With over 60,000 specimens dating back to the 17th century, this phenomenal resource has enormous potential for informing algal conservation efforts.
Asteroids
We are studying chondrite meteorites in our collection to learn about conditions in the early solar system and the processes that formed the planets.
Unlocking the vault: UK plant collections
We are extracting flowering time data from our collection of 610,000 British and Irish plant specimens to study the phenology of selected orchid species.
The role of behaviour in evolution
Species behaviour has the potential to lead morphological evolution, by placing the organism under novel selection pressures.
Evolution of the snake visual system
We are asking what the biology of snake vision can tell us about snake evolution and the evolution of vertebrate visual systems.
Morphological development and evolution of bony fishes
We study the morphological development of bony fishes, and how it has changed over evolutionary time.
All discovery, origins and evolution projects
Origins
- Asteroids
- Atomic-scale phenomena
- Carbonatites from Calatrava
- Comets
- ESA: exploration sample analogue collection and curation facility
- Europlanet
- Mafic and ultramafic rocks in southern Mexico
- Mantle evolution of southern Patagonia
- Popocatépetl volcano, Mexico
- Post-magmatic processes in carbonatitic systems
- Stromboli volcano, Italy
- The changing Sun
- The Hydro-Mars project
- The Moon
- The origins of adakites
Evolution
- African elephants
- Asian elephants
- Body size variation in Quaternary mammals
- Bryozoan endoparasite evolution
- Centipede systematics
- Chironomids as environmental indicators
- Ciliate taxonomy and diversity
- Comparative venomics research
- Conodont research
- Conulariid research
- Convergent evolution of anguilliform elongation
- Copepod colonisation and parasitism
- Cutmarks and carcass decay
- Dinosaur and plant co-evolution
- Dwarfing of fossil mammals on Mediterranean islands
- Echinoderm
- Evolution and development of vertebrate structures
- Evolution and taxonomy of Ice Age deer
- Evolution and taxonomy of Mesozoic bryozoans
- Evolution of the snake visual system
- Exploring the evolution of animals at deep-sea hot springs
- Extinction of large mammals in the Late Quaternary Ice Age
- Human adaptation to diet and disease
- Mammoth evolution as a model for species origins
- MART analysis
- Mesozoic forests of Britain
- Micropalaeontology research opportunities
- Morphological development and evolution of bony fishes
- Naked snakes of the North Eastern Region of India
- Ostracod research
- Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)
- Pathways to Ancient Britain (PAB)
- Phylogenetic comparative methods
- Reading the rocks
- Research using the Museum cetacean collections
- Symbionts
- The role of behaviour in evolution
- Trilobite research
Discovery
- Brazilian mangrove forests
- Bryozoan skeletal mineralogy and ocean acidification
- Co-evolution of plants and soils: a comparative approach
- Eel conservation
- Emerging diseases
- Evolution of fern diversity
- Human impacts on biodiversity
- Plastic in the Thames
- Report your invasive crab sightings
- Research on reef corals and coral reefs
- Saline lakes during periods of climate change
- Soils
- UK seaweed biodiversity conservation
- Unlocking the vault: UK plant collections
- Bio-strategies
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