معرفی
Jonathan I. Bloch is a Professor of Geological Sciences, Anthropology, and Zoology at the University of Florida, serving as Chair of the Department of Natural History at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He is also the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, leading research on fossil mammals and their evolutionary responses to climate change. His work focuses on the early diversification of modern mammal orders following the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction and the impacts of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Notable fieldwork includes studies in Wyoming, Colombia, and Panama.
Bloch holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has been recognized as a University of Florida Term Professor. His research integrates phylogenetics, functional morphology, and field-based discoveries, with a particular emphasis on primate origins and Cenozoic ecosystems. He leads the Montbrook Fossil Site volunteer program and has secured over $65 million in external grants. Recent projects include uncovering Caribbean crocodilian fossils and resolving sloth phylogeny through palaeoproteomics.
Bloch advises doctoral candidates such as María Vallejo-Pareja (Emerging Scholar Award winner) and directs grants addressing climate change effects on biodiversity. His lab's collections, including Miocene Panama fossils, contribute to global paleontological research. Current initiatives focus on AI-driven workflows for studying functional diversity and digitizing fossil records.
