Nidia Alvarez Armada

I am a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Manchester from August 2023. I am a palaeontologist with a strong and diverse background specialising in palaeobiology and palaeonvironments of fossilised invertebrates; taphonomy, fossil preservation and relationships with the environment of deposition; environmental relations, ecosystem interactions including physical and chemical conditions; and deep trends in evolution. For the next two years I will focus on investigating the effects that pigment content, such as melanins and carotenods, have on the mechanical properties of insect cuticles and the way they affect their potential for preservation. I hope to successfully combine novel and cutting-edge techniques, such as microscale material testing and computational fluid dynamics, with more conventional experimental methodology, such as decay experiments, to discern a more complete and accurate image of ancient insect communities.