Sarah Gabbott is a palaeobiologist from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

. She is known for her research on decomposition and fossilization. Her focus is soft-bodied animals, details of which are often lost during decay.

Early life and education

Gabbott received an undergraduate degree in geology from the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

. She went on to receive a doctorate in paleobiology from the

on the topic of Soom Shale fossils. She remained at the University of Leicester as a post-doctoral researcher before being appointed lecturer.

Career

Gabbott leads a paleobiology lab at the University of Leicester which studies the way primitive vertebrates, such as

hagfish Hagfish, of the Class (biology), class Myxini (also known as Hyperotreti) and Order (biology), order Myxiniformes , are eel-shaped Agnatha, jawless fish (occasionally called slime eels). Hagfish are the only known living Animal, animals that h ...

or rag worms, decompose. This work sheds light on the process of

fossilization A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

by determining which types of tissues are preserved and which of them rot away rapidly. The findings can improve the quality of modern reconstructions or restorations based on fossils. In particular, features that evolved more recently were among the first to decay, causing fossils to appear like their ancestors and making identification more difficult. Gabbott also studies environmental factors to fossil preservation. She often works with extremely well-preserved fossils such as those from the Burgess Shales or the Soom Shale. In 2016, Gabbott's team determined that '' Tullimonstrum'' is a vertebrate based on cellular structures in the eyes. Further investigations into eye tissues of jawless fish fossils showed that vision was more developed in

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

hagfish than in their modern counterparts. This process is known as regressive evolution. Gabbott's research interest include soft-bodied animals from the

Cambrian Period The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovici ...

. In 2017, she studied symbiotic relationships between worms after fossils of ''Inquicus fellatus'' were found attached to the larger ''Cricocosmia jinnigensis'' and ''Mafangscolex sinensi''. In 2018, Gabbott was a co-discoverer of the chancelloriid species ''Allonnia nuda''. Since 2017, she has expanded her research focus to address the long-term effects of plastic in the environment. Gabbott is Director of the Advanced Microscopy Centre at the University of Leicester Department of Engineering. In 2003, Gabbott was featured on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series "The Big Monster Dig".

Awards and honours

* 1998 President's Award of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

* 1994 Annual Meeting President's Prize of the

Palaeontological Association The Palaeontological Association (PalAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1957 for the promotion of the study of palaeontology and its allied sciences. Publications The Association publishes two main journals ...

Personal life

Gabbott is a contributor to BBC online science articles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabbott, Sarah Paleobiologists Academics of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Southampton Year of birth missing (living people) Living people