Emeritus Professor David A.T. Harper
Research interests/expertise: Fossil brachiopods, their taxonomy and distribution in time and space. The origins and diversification of early animal life. Development and use of numerical methods in the earth sciences.
Professor Harper joined the National Museums Scotland as a Research Associate in 2019. He is a former Professor and College Principal in Durham University, a Professor and Head of Department in the University of Copenhagen and a Statutory Lecturer in the University of Galway.
Projects include studies with Curator of Invertebrate Palaeobiology, Yves Candela, on the Lower Palaeozoic rocks and fossils of Scotland and elsewhere. The collaboration has led to the investigation and understanding of the origin, early diversification and global geography of the phylum Brachiopoda. These projects have been expanded to describe and analyze invertebrate faunas from Belgium, France and North Africa.
Current work includes an evaluation, led by Yves Candela, of collections of Early Palaeozoic invertebrate faunas from Scotland, including those of Dr Archie Lamont and others.
Selected publications
Candela, Y., Harper, D.A.T. and Mergl, M. 2024. The brachiopod faunas from the Fezouata Shale (Lower Ordovician; Tremadocian-Floian) of the Zagora area, Anti-Atlas, Morocco: evidence for a biodiversity hub in Gondwana. Papers in Palaeontology10 (5): e1592. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1592
Stouge, S., Harper, D.A.T. and Parkes, M.A. 2024. Late Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) conodonts from eastern and southeastern Ireland. Irish Journal of Earth Sciences42 (1): 15-60. https://doi.org/10.1353/ijes.2024.a935020
Mussini, G., Smith, M.P., Vinther, J., Rahman, I.A., Murdock, D.J.E., Harper, D.A.T. and Dunn, F.S. 2024. A new interpretation of Pikaia reveals the origins of the chordate body plan. Current Biology34 (13): 2980-2989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.026
Park Tae-Yoon, Nielsen, M.L., Parry, L.A., Sorensen, M.V., Lee, M., Ji-Hoon Kihm, Inhe Ahn, Changkun Park, De Vivo, Giacinto, Smith, M.P., Harper, D.A.T., Nielsen, A.T. and Vinther, J. 2024. A giant stem-group chaetognath. Science Advances10 (1): eadi6678. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi6678
Harper, D.A.T. 2024. Late Ordovician mass extinctions: Earth, fire and ice. National Science Review 11 (1): nwad319. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwad319
Jin, J., Rasmussen, C.M.Ø., Sheehan, P.M. and Harper, D.A.T. 2024. Late Ordovician and early Silurian virgianid and stricklandioid brachiopods from North Greenland: implications for a warm-water faunal province. Papers in Palaeontology10 (1): e1544. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1544
Hammer, Ø. and Harper, D.A.T. 2024. Paleontological Data Analysis. 2nd Edition. Wiley, Oxford, 400 pp.
Harper, D.A.T. and Seberg, O. (eds). 2023. The origins of all things [Altings Oprindelse]. Munksgaard, Copenhagen, 350 pp.
Harper, D.A.T., Lefebvre, B., Percival, I.G. and Servais, T. (eds) 2023. A global synthesis of the Ordovician System. Part 1. Special Publication 532, Geological Society, London, 514 pp.
Servais, T., Harper, D.A.T., Lefebvre, B. and Percival, I.G. (eds) 2023. A global synthesis of the Ordovician System. Part 2. Special Publication 533, Geological Society, London, 618 pp.
Gallagher, E.E. and Harper, D.A.T. 2023. Silurian brachiopods from the Pentland Hills, Scotland. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society, 70 pp.+ 13 pls.
Penn-Clarke, C.R. and Harper, D.A.T. 2023. The Rise and Fall of the Malvinoxhosan (Malvinokaffric) bioregion in South Africa: Evidence for Early-Middle Devonian biocrises at the South Pole. Earth-Science Reviews 246, 104595.