Position(s):
Associate Professor, Dept. of Biology

Office: 409 Stratton Hall

Phone: (215) 895-6456 (Office)
            
Email: lacovara@drexel.edu

Ph.D. – University of Delaware (Geology)
M.A. – University of Maryland (Laboratory for Coastal Research)
B.A. – Rowan University

Courses Taught

ENVR 270 History of Life on Earth
ENVR 271 Dinosaurs and their World
ENVR 272 Physical Geology
ENVR 373/573 Coastal Environments
ENVR 374/574 Sedimentary Environments
ENVR 460 Evolution
ENVR 520 Field Methods in Paleoecology

My research is focused on the paleontological reconstruction of Mesozoic Era environments containing the remains of dinosaurs and other vertebrate animals. The data which I utilized typically includes evidence from vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, sedimentology, and paleobotany. Currently my students and I are excavating large sauropod dinosaurs from Late Cretaceous terrestrial deposits in southern Patagonia, Argentina. I am also a member of the Bahariya Dinosaur project, working in the Egyptian Sahara, and a collaborative project with Dr. Hai Lu You (Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences) and Dr. Matthew Lamanna (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), in which we are studying the evolution of Cretaceous ornithurine birds from the middle Cretaceous of China. Closer to home, my students and I collaborate with Dr. William Gallagher (New Jersey State Museum) on a study of the Cretaceous fauna of southern New Jersey. Our recently excavated 65 million year old New Jersey crocodilian, Thoracosaurus neocesariensis, is currently on display in the lobby of Stratton Hall.
            The study of Mesozoic ecosystems, particularly those of the Cretaceous Period, has taken on added importance in recent years because of recent global warming. Because we can not (of course) study the future, fossil ecosystems offer the only tangible evidence of what continued global warming may produce. End-member “hothouse” conditions, with probable maximum values for sea level, temperature, and atmospheric CO2, occurred during the Cretaceous and are recorded in sedimentary deposits. For this reason, we emphasize the paleoenvironmental context at each fossil site. A deep understanding of the Cretaceous global response to these extreme conditions will enhance our ability to anticipate the physical and biotic response to current ocean-atmospheric trends.

Post-Docs and Graduate Students

Christopher Coughenour: Analysis of ancient tidal rhythmite deposits and implications 
                                     for the Earth-Moon system
Lucio Ibiricu: Evolution and functional morphology of the caudal series of Macronarian  
                   sauropod dinosaurs
Jason Schein: Late Cretaceous faunal communities  of southern New Jersey
Victoria Egerton: Paleopathology of sauropod dinosaurs
Jessica  Battisto: Soft tissue preservation in dinosaur fossils

Personal/Laboratory Website(s):

Patagonia Excavation