Dr. Lidya Tarhan

Biography

Lidya Tarhan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Yale University and serves as an Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum. Her research focuses on understanding the sedimentary record to gain a multidisciplinary insight into ancient life during key intervals in Earth’s history. Specifically, her work investigates the interplay between animals and their environments, examining the role of animals as ecosystem engineers across various scales. She employs a combination of traditional sedimentological and paleontological methods alongside geochemical and experimental techniques grounded in fieldwork and laboratory analyses. Her recent projects include exploring the Ediacaran Biota, analyzing the mechanisms behind 'Ediacara-style' preservation of soft-bodied organisms, and studying the evolutionary impact of bioturbators throughout Earth's history. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California-Riverside in 2013 and continues to contribute valuable insights into the processes that affect fossilization and the evolution of complex life on Earth.

Research Interests