Dr. Robert Feranec

Director of Research and Collections, Curator of Pleistocene Vertebrate Paleontology
robert.feranec@nysed.gov
518-474-5819

While my interests encompass a broad scope of topics including influences on biogeography, causes of speciation and adaptive radiation, and triggers of extinction, my research has been focused at describing the evolution of ecology in mammals.  My research concentrates on examining ecology in mammals from short time scales (seasons) to very long time scales (millions of years). 

In order to understand ecology of fossil mammals, the modern quantitative and analytical techniques I employ include stable isotope geochemistry, utilization of bioinformatics databases, and computer-based imaging of fossils which permits quantitative analysis of various morphological features.  Fieldwork is also an important aspect of my research program, and I have conducted or participated in excavations in the U.S. and Spain. 

Typical questions addressed in my research include:

How does climate change effect ecology?
Does ecology change during development?
Does immigration/dispersal of new species affect ecology?
Does extinction/extirpation of species affect ecology?

I am interested and open to collaboration within and beyond North America.  Potential collaborators, including current or potential graduate students, are encouraged to email me.

Publications

2019

J. Hart, R. Feranec 2019, Fish and maize: Bayesian mixing models of fourteenth- through seventeenth-century AD ancestral Wendat diets, Ontario, Canada, Scientific Reports 9, 16658. 10.1038/s41598-019-53076-7
R. Feranec, Kena Fox-Dobbs, John Harris, Thure Cerling, Jonathan Crites, Aisling Farrell, Gary Takeuchi, Larisa DeSantis 2019, Causes and Consequences of Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions as Revealed from Rancho La Brea Mammals, Current Biology 29, 2488-2495. 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.059

2018

R. Feranec, Sarah Heins-Ledogar, Jessica Zuhlke 2018, Isotopic evidence for broad diet including anadromous fish during the mid-Holocene in northeastern North America, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 19, 505-512. 10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.03.029
Wysocki, M., Feranec, R., 2018. Analyzing the Tooth Development of Sabertooth Carnivores: Implications Regarding the Ecology and Evolution of Smilodon fatalis, in: Werdelin, L., McDonald, H., Shaw, C. (Eds.), Smilodon: The Iconic Sabertooth. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, pp. 139-152.
Kozlowski, A., Bird, B., Lowell, T., Smith, C., Feranec, R., Graham, B., 2018. Minimum Age of the Mapleton, Tully, and Labrador Hollow Moraines Indicates Correlation with the Port Huron Phase in Central New York State, in: , Quaternary Glaciation of the Great Lakes Region: Process, Landforms, Sediments, and Chronology. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 191–216.
Feranec, R., Kozlowski, A., 2018. Onset Age of Deglaciation Following the Last Glacial Maximum in New York State Based on Radiocarbon Ages of Mammalian Megafauna, in: Kehew, A., Curry, B. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciation of the Great Lakes Region: Process, Landforms, Sediments, and Chronology. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. .

2017

A. Kozlowski, R. Feranec 2017, Ice Age Mammals Colonize New York: A STEM Lab Derived from Collections-Based Research at the New York State Museum, New York State Museum Education Leaflet New York State Education Department, Albany, New York
R. Feranec, L.C. Eastham, D. Begun 2017, Trace Element Analysis Provides Insight into the Diets of Early Late Miocene Ungulates from the Rudab\ anya II Locality (Hungary), Geologica Acta 15, 231-243. 10.1344/GeologicaActa2017.15.3.6
R. Feranec, D. Pagnac 2017, Hypsodonty, horses, and the spread of C4 grasses during the middle Miocene in southern California, Evolutionary Ecology Research 18, 201–223.
A. Kozlowski, R. Feranec 2017, Ice Age Mammals Colonize New York: A STEM Lab Derived from Collections-Based Research at the New York State Museum, New York State Museum Education Leaflet New York State Education Department, Albany, New York