Conveners:
Jacopo Amalfitano (Università di Padova)
Alberto Collareta (Terra Università di Pisa)
Fabio Massimo Petti (Società Geologica Italiana)
This session focuses on the value of fossil vertebrates as key research target for investigating the Earth's surficial environments through time. Fossil vertebrates represent a crucial component of the paleontological record for tracing interactions among climate change, sedimentary processes and ecosystem evolution across geological timescales. Vertebrates' ecological and environmental plasticity, paleodiversity, stratigraphic specificity and conspicuous paleontological documentation, including body and trace fossils, underpins their value as robust proxies for reconstructing Earth system dynamics. The session aims to highlight how vertebrate assemblages reflect climatic and environmental shifts, and changes in the sedimentary regime, including phases of ecosystem instability, biotic turnovers, crises, and recovery. Morphological adaptations, shifts in diversity patterns, body-size trends, and changes in community structure provide insights into biotic responses to environmental stressors and long-term risk scenarios. When integrated with sedimentological, stratigraphic, and geochemical data, vertebrate fossils enhance our ability to interpret sedimentary archives as dynamic expressions of the surface processes. By emphasizing the potential of fossil vertebrates within the geosciences, an interdisciplinary perspective bridging paleontology and geology is promoted. Understanding how vertebrates responded to past global and regional changes provides valuable long-term analogs for assessing modern ecosystems responses, supporting scientifically grounded approaches for addressing ongoing and future environmental challenges.