Staff

Main Page

Facilities

Staff

Teaching

Research

Publications

  Center for Evolutionary Ecology

Home

Back

Paolo Piras, M.S., Ph.D

e-mails: tomistoma@libero.it and ppiras@uniroma3.it 

The Department of Geological Sciences of Roma Tre University and the S.T.A.T Department of Molise University founded the Center for Evolutionary Ecology, whose venue is the Laboratory of Vertebrate Palaeontology of Roma Tre University. 

Aims and scope of this newborn center are the improvement of our knowledge of Evolutionary Ecology, Macroecology and Palaeobiology.

General informations

Born in Rome (Italy)-23/08/1975.

Natural Sciences Degree in 2002 at "La Sapienza" University. 110/110 summa cum laude.

Ph.D. achieved on 12-4-2007. Ph.D. Thesis titke: Theoretical morphology of fossil and recent crocodile skull by means of 3- and 2-dimensional geometric morphometrics.

April 2003-April 2004: Research fellow at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid on the revision of Diplocynodon muelleri from Oligocene of Spain.

2007-Collaborator of the Geological Science Department, Roma Tre University, Rome.

2008-Postdoc fellow at Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris on Arvicola terrestris evolutionary ecology.

2009-January-May: research fellow at Geological Science Department, Roma Tre University on arvicolids Geometric Morphometrics.

Present position: collaborator of the Center for Evolutionary Ecology.

Research interests

My principal interests concern the evolutionary palaeobiology and its macroevolutives implications, the phylogenetic systematic and the cladistic methodology applicated mainly to Crocodiles; in the structural field I started my Ph.D. on the geometric morphometrics of recent and fossil corocodiles; this type of investigation is totally new in crocodile systematics and can potentially clarify some “problematic topics” like Gavialis relationships and the modality of growth of Crocodylia. About Evolutionary palaeobiology I deepened the debate about speciation theories and the connections between evolutionary theories and the ecological approaches (i.e. punctuated equilibria (Eldredge & Gould) and the effect and Turnover Pulse hypothesis  of  E. Vrba; see pubblications).

Conferences

3-4-2003 - "I coccodrilli italiani". Museo Civico di Zoologia, Roma.

17-2-2005 - "I grandi mammiferi del Plio-Pleistocene Italiano: un approccio macroevolutivo". Museo Civico di Zoologia, Roma.

Scientific publications

These papers are encrypted with a password: please

send me an e-mail request to obtain it.

1) KOTSAKIS T., DELFINO M. & PIRAS P. (2004) –  Italian Cenozoic crocodilians: taxa, timing  and palaeobiogeographic implications. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 210: 67-87, Amsterdam.

2) ROOK L., ABBAZZI L., ANGELONE C., ARCA M., BARISONE G., BEDETTI C., DELFINO M., KOTSAKIS T., MARCOLINI F., PALOMBO M.R., PAVIA M., PIRAS P., TORRE D., TUVERI C., VALLI A. & WILKENS B. (2004) - Osservazioni preliminari sui vertebrati fossili plio-pleistocenici del Monte Tuttavista (Orosei, Sardegna). Sardinia Corsica et Baleares Antiquae, 1: 11-29,  Pisa.  

3) ABBAZZI L., ANGELONE C., ARCA M., BARISONE G., BEDETTI C., DELFINO M., KOTSAKIS T., MARCOLINI F., PALOMBO M.R., PAVIA M., PIRAS P., ROOK L., TORRE D., TUVERI C., VALLI A. & WILKENS B. (2004) - Plio-Pleistocene fossil vertebrates of Monte Tuttavista (Orosei, E. Sardinia, Italy), an overview. Riv. Ital. Paleont. Strat., 110: 681-706, Milano.

4) PIRAS P. & KOTSAKIS T. (2005) – A new gavialid from the Early Miocene of south-eastern Pakistan (Preliminary Report). Rend. Soc. Paleont. Ital., 2: 201-207.

5) RAIA P., PIRAS P. & KOTSAKIS T. (2005) - Turnover pulse or Red Queen? Evidence from the large mammal communities during the Plio-Pleistocene of Italy. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 221: 293-312, Amsterdam.

6) KOTSAKIS T., ARGENTI P., BARISONE G., DELFINO M., PALOMBO M.R., PAVIA M. & PIRAS P. (2005) – Il Paleogene: i vertebrati continentali. In: Bonfiglio L. (Ed.), Paleontologia dei Vertebrati in Italia, Mem. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Verona, s. 2, Sci. Terra, 6: 131-139, f. 11-19, Verona.

part 1  part 2

7) RAIA P., PIRAS P. & KOTSAKIS T. (2006) - Detection of Plio-Quaternary large mammal communities of Italy: integration to biochronology. Quatern. Sci. Rev. London, 25: 846-854.

7) PIRAS P., KOTSAKIS T. & HUSSAIN T. (in prep.) - A new gavialoid form in the Early Miocene of Pakistan.

8) PIRAS P., DELFINO M., DEL FAVERO L. & KOTSAKIS T. 2007 - Phylogenetic position of Megadontosuchus arduini and tomistomines palaeobiogeography. Acta Paleontologica Polonica, 52(2): 315-328.

9) DELFINO M., PIRAS P., SMITH T. 2005 - Taxonomy and phylogeny of Eosuchus lerichei Dollo, 1907 (Crocodylia). Acta Palaeont. Pol., 50: 565-580, Warszawa.

10) PIRAS P., BUSCALIONI A. 2006 - DIPLOCYNODON MUELLERI COMB. NOV., an Oligocene diplocynodontine alligatoroid from Catalonia (Ebro Basin, Lleida province, Spain). J. Vert. Paleont., 26(3): 608-620. [Society of Vertebrate Paleontology website: http://www.vertpaleo.org]

11) MELORO, C., RAIA, P., PIRAS, P., BARBERA, C., O’HIGGINS, P. 2008. The shape of the mandibular corpus in large fissiped carnivores: allometry, function and phylogeny. Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 154: 832-845

12) PIRAS, P., MARCOLINI, F., RAIA, P., CURCIO, M.T., KOTSAKIS, T. 2009. Testing evolutionary stasis and trends in first lower molar shape of extinct Italian populations of Terricola savii (Arvicolidae, Rodentia) by means of geometric morphometrics. J. Ev. Biol. 22: 179-191.

13) PIRAS, P. TERESI, L., BUSCALIONI, A.D., CUBO, J. 2009. The shadow of forgotten ancestors differently constrains the fate of Alligatoroidea and Crocodyloidea. Global Ecol. And Biogeog. 18: 30-40.

14) MARCOLINI, F, PIRAS, P. AND MARTIN, R. 2009. Testing evolutionary dynamics on 1 first lower molars of Pliocene Ogmodontomys (Arvicolidae, Rodentia) from the Meade Basin of Southwestern Kansas (USA): a landmark-based approach. Palaios, 24: 535:543.  

15) RAIA, P.; CAROTENUTO, F.; MELORO, C.; PIRAS, P.; BARBERA, C.; KOTSAKIS, T. 2009. More than three million years of community evolution. The temporal and geographical resolution of the Plio-Pleistocene Western Eurasia mammal faunas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 276 (15): 15-23 . 

16) Piras, P., Marcolini, F., Raia, P., Curcio, M.T. and Kotsakis, T. Ecophenotypic variation and phylogenetic inheritance in first lower molar shape of extant Italian populations of Microtus (Terricola) savii (Rodentia). In press. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
 

17) RAIA, P., CAROTENUTO, F., MELORO, C., PIRAS, P. AND PUSHKINA, D.The shape of contention. How much adaptation is there in ungulate mandibles? Submitted to Evolution.

TOP

Abstracts

1) KOTSAKIS T., DELFINO M. & PIRAS P. (2002) – Elements of palaeobiogeography of Italian Cenozoic crocodiles. Riass. 4° Congr. Naz. Soc. Herpetol. Ital., 18-19, Ercolano.

2) ABBAZZI L., ANGELONE C., ARCA M., BARISONE G., BEDETTI C., DELFINO M., KOTSAKIS T., MARCOLINI F., PALOMBO M.R., PAVIA M., PIRAS P., ROOK L., TORRE D., TUVERI C., VALLI A. & WILKENS B. (2003) – I vertebrati fossili plio-pleistocenici del Monte Tuttavista (Orosei, Sardegna). Abstr. Giornate di Paleontologia 2003, 2, Alessandria.

3) PIRAS P. & KOTSAKIS T. (2003) – A new gavialid from Early Miocene of south-eastern Pakistan. Abstr. Giornate di Paleontologia 2003, 42, Alessandria.

4) PALOMBO M.R., ABBAZZI L., ANGELONE C., ARCA M., BARISONE G., BEDETTI C., DELFINO M., KOTSAKIS T., MARCOLINI F., PAVIA M., PIRAS P., ROOK L., TORRE D., TUVERI C., VALLI A. & WILKENS B. (2003) – Plio-Pleistocene fossil vertebrates of Monte Tuttavista (Orosei, eastern Sardinia, Italy), new perspectives from insular ecosystem evolution. Abstr. Intern. Symp. “Insular Vertebrate Evolution: the Palaeontological Approach”, 51, Ciutat de Mallorca.

5) KOTSAKIS T., ANGELONE C., ARGENTI P., BARISONE G., CURCIO M.T., DI CANZIO E. , MARCOLINI F.*, PIRAS P., TATA C. Climatic changes and micromammal assemblage modifications in the italian peninsula during the six last mis. 150 years of Neanderthal Discoveries, Bonn 21-26/7-2006.

6) KOTSAKIS T., BONFIGLIO L., MASINI F., PETRONIO C., SALA B., SARDELLA R., ANGELONE C., ARGENTI P., BARISONE G., BASSI D., BEDETTI C., CURCIO M.T., DE CURTIS O., DI CANZIO E., GOVONI L., GRAZZI V., MANGANO G., MARCHETTI M., MARCOLINI F., PAVIA M., PETRUSO D., PIRAS P., TATA C. Faunal changes and palaeobiodiversity of italian vertebrate assemblages during the last glacial cycles. Trieste, Giornate di Paleontologia , Societa' paleontogica Italiana, 8-11-6-2006.

7) PIRAS P.,  BUSCALIONI A.,  SLICE D.,  KOTSAKIS T., RAIA P. Developmental geometric morphometrics for Gavialis-Tomistoma debate: a third approach. (2006). Societas Herpethologica Italica Congress, Rome, 27-9/1-10/2006

8) BUSCALIONI, AD.; PIRAS, P.; MARUGAN-LOBON, J. AND CHAMERO, B. 2008. Morphometric Insight On The Morphological Organization Of Eusuchia (Crocodylomorpha). III Latin-American Congress of Vertebrate Paleontology .22-25/10/2008.

9) MAIORINO L., PIRAS P., MARCOLINI F., RAIA P. AND KOTSAKIS T. 2009. Geometric Morphometrics of Skulls in Extinct and Extant Rhinos. A comparative approach. Giornate di Paleontologia 2009. Apricena, Abstract Book: 19.

10) MARCOLINI, F. PIRAS, P., CLAUDE, J., VENTURA QUEIJA, J., KOTSAKIS, T. AND CUBO, J. 2009 Geomteric Morphometric and enamel structure analysis in Arvocola amphibious complex in Western Europe. Giornate di Paleontologia 2009. Apricena,, Abstract book: 21

  TOP

Posters

Laura Abbazzi, Chiara Angelone, Marisa Arca, Giancarlo Barisone, Claudia Bedetti, Massimo Delfino, Tassos Kotsakis, Federica Marcolini, M. Rita Palombo, Marco Pavia, PAOLO PIRAS, Lorenzo Rook, Danilo Torre, Caterinella Tuveri, Andrea Valli. I VERTEBRATI FOSSILI PLIO-PLEISTOCENICI DEL MONTE TUTTAVISTA (OROSEI, SARDEGNA). Giornate di Paleontologia della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 21-23 May 2003, Alessandria.

PIRAS P.,& KOTSAKIS, T. A new gavialid from early Miocene of south-eastern Pakistan. Giornate di Paleontologia della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 21-23 May 2003, Alessandria.

Popular publications

ANGELONE C., BARISONE G., CURCIO M.T. & PIRAS P. (2003) - Paleobiogeografia: due esempi di studio riguardanti gli organismi continentali italiani. In: “Stato della ricerca e sviluppi futuri. I primi dieci anni di attività della Facoltà di Scienze M.F.N. di Roma Tre”: 257-260, Edizioni Aracne, Roma.

TOP