Rhiannon LaVine
Rhiannon LaVine
Rhiannon LaVine
Invertebrate Paleontologist
Rhiannon LaVine is an invertebrate paleontologist. She studies the evolution of form in ancient trilobites, an extinct group of invertebrates.
Rhiannon has had a lifelong interest in paleontology, which was inspired by growing up in the fossil-rich landscapes of Arizona and the dinosaur-rich culture of the 1980s. She received her B.S. in Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She also did an internship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History while an undergraduate student. Currently, Rhiannon is a postdoctoral researcher (an early-career scientist working in a temporary research position) at the University of Kansas an an Adjunct Professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.
As a student, Rhiannon investigated a variety of research topics. She was involved in studies of fossilized benthic gastropod assemblages. (Gastropods are the group that includes slugs and snails; benthic gastropods live on the ocean floor.) She did fieldwork in the western United States. She also trained in geochemical analysis and mapping.
As a Ph.D. student, Rhiannon began studying the evolution of agnostids, a group of small, eyeless trilobites that lived during the Cambrian (about 541 to 485 million years ago) and Ordovician (about 485 to 444 million years ago) periods. Her Ph.D. project focused on investigating patterns of diversity in the group, particularly why these animals showed more variation in form early in their history than later on.
Daring to Dig Interview
In this video, Rhiannon discusses how she became interested in paleontology and her positive experience as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; she also talks about the how she views the status of women in science today. This interview was recorded when Rhiannon was a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago.
Selected abstracts by Rhiannon LaVine
Hanger, R.A., and R.J. LaVine. 2010. Extension of the Island Rule to Permian microgastropod faunas of the western North American accreted terranes. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42(5): 131. Link
LaVine, R.J. .2011. Geochemical signature of the Permian-Triassic transitional environment, Pine Forest Range, Nevada. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 43(1): 91. Link (Poster can be downloaded from MINDS@UW: Link)
LaVine, R.J. 2018. Patterns of morphological diversification in the suborder Agnostina (Trilobita). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 50(6). Link
LaVine, R.J., and M. Webster. 2017. Assessing the structure of integration in the cephalon of the middle Cambrian agnostine arthropod Peronopsis brighamensis. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 49(6). Link
LaVine, R.J., P.J. Wagner, and D.H. Erwin. 2011. A phylogenetic dissection of the gastropod subfamily Knightitinae across the Permian-Triassic boundary. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 43(5): 117. Link
Further reading
Kuhl, S. 2011. Geology student working in prestigious internship at Smithsonian. University News, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Link