Lars Werdelin

Professor, Deputy Head of Department

Contact

Phone: +46 (0)8 519 542 02
E-mail: lars.werdelin@nrm.se

Billing and Mailing Address:

See the Staff and Contacts page.

Education

BSc Linköping University, Sweden, 1977

PhD Stockholm University, Sweden, 1981

Responsibilities

Research in the field of vertebrate paleontology. Shared responsibility for the department’s collection of fossil vertebrates. Shared responsibility for the department’s collections database, especially term lists. Outreach within my area of competence.

Research Interests

The evolution, phylogeny, ecology, and conservation of mammalian carnivores, living and extinct, with special emphasis on African carnivores and their interaction with the evolving human lineage during the past 7 million years.

I have carried out research at all levels of abstraction, from describing fossils and new species, to carrying out phylogenetic analyses, to coming up with new ways to study community structure and faunal change. This work has been done in collaboration with numerous colleagues around the world. It has led to new insights into the impact of early humans on their environment and is supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR).

I am also involved in field work in Africa and am currently collaborating on the Ledi-Geraru Research Project, collecting fossils, including the earliest Homo, from the Afar Region of Ethiopia. This work is carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University and is funded by NSF and the Templeton Foundation.

Projects

Project I. Carnivores and the ecological footprint of early humans

Other Professional Roles

• Senior Editor, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2014-
• Member, IUCN Cat and Hyaena Specialist Groups 1990-
• Member, Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society 2011-
• Member, Swedish National Committee for Biology (the Swedish IUBS committee) 2011-

Awards

Foreign Member of The Finnish Society for Sciences and Letters