Lydia Tackett
Lydia Tackett
Lydia Tackett
Paleoecologist & Sedimentologist
Lydia Tackett is a paleoecologist and sedimentologist. She studies Late Triassic (237 to 201 million years ago) marine (saltwater) ecosystems using fossils and isotopes.
Lydia is originally from Philadelphia. Her interest in paleontology was sparked when she learned about the island effect (Foster’s rule)—essentially, that animals like mammoths become smaller over generations after they colonize islands—when taking an anthropology course as an undergraduate student. This led her to the topics of evolutionary theory and mass extinctions. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California in 2014 and began her position as an Assistant Professor in Geoscience at North Dakota State University later that year. She is now an Associate Professor at North Dakota State University, where she teaches courses on a variety of topics like sedimentology and stratigraphy, invertebrate paleontology, and field methods.
Lydia studies the paleoecology of Late Triassic marine ecosystems. Specifically, she works with invertebrate macrofossils, vertebrate ichthyoliths (“fish stones” or small fish remains), isotopes, and information from sediments to reconstruct ancient ecosystems, with a focus on structural ecosystem changes during transitional intervals. Some of the topics that she is investigating include predator-prey interactions in the Late Triassic, the effects of the Manicougan bollide impact event (when an asteroid struck what is now Quebec, Canada, about 214 million years ago), and the End-Triassic Mass Extinction.
In 2017, Lydia received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award (NSF CAREER award), a prestigious grant that funds early-career scientists to integrate research and teaching. In 2020, she was appointed as the Editorials Editor for Palaeontologia Electronica, an open-access journal that publishes research papers and commentaries in paleontology. Lydia is active in local politics and ran for a seat on the Cass County (North Dakota) Commission in 2020.
Daring to Dig Interview
In this video, Lydia discusses how she became interested in paleontology, her research and career goals, the importance of mentorship, and how her experiences have differed from those of previous generations of women geoscientists. This interview was recorded in 2019, when Lydia was an Assistant Professor; she has since been promoted to Associate Professor.
Selected works by Lydia Tackett
Clement, A.M., L.S. Tackett, K.A. Ritterbush, and Y. Ibarra. 2020. Formation and stratigraphic facies distribution of early Jurassic iron oolite deposits from west central Nevada, USA. Sedimentary Geology 395: 135537. Link
Tackett, L.S., and D.J. Bottjer. 2012. Faunal succession of Norian (Late Triassic) level-bottom benthos in the Lombardian Basin: Implications for the timing, rate, and nature of the Early Mesozoic Marine Revolution. Palaios 27: 585–593. Link
Tackett, L.S., and D.J. Bottjer. 2016. Paleoecological succession of Norian (Late Triassic) benthic fauna in eastern Panthalassa (Luning and Gabbs formations, west-central Nevada). Palaios 31: 190–202. Link
Tackett, L.S., A.J. Kaufman, F.A. Corsetti, and D.J. Bottjer. 2014. Strontium isotope stratigraphy of the Gabbs Formation (Nevada): Implications for global Norian-Rhaetian correlations and faunal turnover. Lethaia 47: 500–511. Link
Tackett, L.S., and A. Tintori. 2019. Low drilling frequency in Norian benthic assemblages from the southern Italian Alps and the role of specialized durophages during the Late Triassic. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 513: 25–34. Link
Further reading
NDSU News: NDSU assistant professor receives National Science Foundation CAREER Award. 14 June 2017. Link
Pier, J. 2020. Welcome Dr. Lydia Tackett, PE’s new Editorials Editor! Palaeontologia Electronica, PE Blog. Link
Reese, D. 2021. Paleoecologist gets her feet wet in North Dakota politics. Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally, 25 April 2021. Link
Reuer, W. 2020. Voters reelect 2 to Cass County Commission, while Kapitan upsets incombent Pawluk. INFORMUM, 3 November 2020. Link
Video & audio content
ND EPSCoR: Lydia Tackett’s Geosciene lab at NDSU. Video, 31 May 2021, via YouTube. Link