Tanner Frank is a paleoecologist who studies the evolution of trophic structure (the partitioning and flow of energy in ecosystems) through deep time. He is especially interested in early land-based ecosystems, and the seemingly slow emergence of specialized herbivores seen in the fossil record. His research has focused on fossils of arthropods – the earliest land animals – as well as the use of food webs and numerical models to explore the structure and function of ancient terrestrial ecosystems. His current project is examining the record of arthropod damage traces on fossil plants to better understand the early evolution of herbivory on land.
Education
PhD; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley; 2025
BA; Department of Biology & Department of Earth Sciences, University of Pennsylvania; 2017
Research Interests
paleoecology, community ecology, food webs and ecological networks, terrestrial and freshwater arthropods
