Trilobites were common and varied during a history stretching over hundreds of millions of years. But how can we infer the ecology of entirely extinct arthropods with no close living relatives? Prof. Fortey will show some of the methods he has used to try and understand the variety of species that swarmed in Palaeozoic oceans.

Richard Fortey has worked at the Natural History Museum, London for more than 30 years. His academic research has won several medals and he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997. He has published popular science books on a range of subjects including geology, palaeontology, evolution and natural history and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009. He has presented several BBC 4 TV series, including Fossil Wonderlands: Nature’s Hidden Treasures, The Magic of Mushrooms and, most recently, Nature’s Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution.