Stewart is a paleobiologist who tackles broad questions in biodiversity science by building and analyzing big-data libraries of modern and fossil specimens. He’s researched topics such as why biodiversity declines from the tropics to the poles, how mass extinctions reorganized biodiversity, and how tradeoffs in organismal form, function, and energetics influenced the evolutionary fates of animal groups. Stewart mostly studies these topics in marine bivalves—clams, oysters, mussels, cockles, and others—as they have an astonishing diversity in today’s ocean and a deep fossil history dating back some half a billion years. Full list of publications on Google Scholar.

The Edie Lab at NMNH:

• Dr. Sarah Leventhal
• Dr. Kat Turk