Research interests
My main research interest is ichnology, the study of plant and animal traces, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests. I study both modern and ancient traces (neoichnology and paleoichnology, respectively), using a comparative approach that looks at how traces are made, how they get preserved in the fossil record, then develop hypotheses on how well they reflect behavioral interactions of organisms in the context of their environments. My methods are akin to behavioral ecology, and I have oftentimes described it to ecologists as “behavioral paleoecology.” Some of these questions provoked by this approach include: (1) How does an organism’s body reflect its potential behavior versus behaviors shown by its traces?; or (2) How do traces indicate behaviors similar or different from those few times we might observe an organism’s behavior? Recently I have especially become interested in tracks and tracking of modern terrestrial vertebrates, but am willing to study (and have studied) burrows, borings, nests, root traces, and coprolites. Traces and trace fossils of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, repotiles, dinosaurs, birds, mammals) and invertebrates (particularly arthropods) all interest me. I also use ichnology as a tool for teaching scientific methods and emphasize its educational applications in my teaching.
My main reason for being here this year (2006) is to work cooperatively on a project with the Monash Centre for Science Education and Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies on the educational value of tracking. The science of tracking is well represented by past and current indigenous tracking traditions in Australia, hence this is one of the best places in the world for me to study it.
My “normal” academic position is as a senior lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). I am fortunate enough to be here for much of the year on a sabbatical, which was made possible through the Winship Award, given by the Center for Teaching and Curriculum. To read about the courses I teach at Emory, go to my home page there at: http://www.envs.emory.edu/Faculty/martin.html
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