Marcelo G. Carrera. Cicterra (Conicet-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1699, X5016GCA, Córdoba, Argentina. mcarrera@unc.edu.ar
Marcelo G. Carrera was born in Córdoba, Argentina, and graduated with a degree in Geological Sciences from the National University of Córdoba in 1986. He then received a scholarship from the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research(CONICET) and completed his PhD in 1994. Since then, he has pursued a career as a researcher at CONICET, focusing on the evolution, ecology, and biogeography of Paleozoic sponges, bryozoans, and reef ecosystems. As a senior researcher and Professor in the National University of Cordoba, he has supervised six PhD theses on various paleobiological topics. In recent years, he has also served as the chief scientist of multi-disciplinary research programs and as the head of the Earth Sciences Research Institute (Cicterra), which is affiliated with CONICET and the University of Córdoba.
Joseph P. Botting. Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. acutipuerilis@yahoo.co.uk
and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.
Joe Botting was born in Hereford, in the Welsh Borders, and graduated in Natural Sciences from Cambridge in 1997, before completing a PhD at Birmingham in 2000. Since then he was worked in museums and universities in the UK, with research focused on the early evolution of sponges and the development of Ordovician ecosystems, and spent two years at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China. He currently lives as a semi-independent researcher in central Wales, but spends an average of three months per year in Nanjing, funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at Amgueddfa Cymru—National Museum Wales.
Fernando L. Cañas. Dpto. de Geología, Facultad de Cs Exactas, Fisico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina (ICBIA - UNRC). fcanas@exa.unrc.edu.ar
Fernando Cañas was born in Córdoba, Argentina, and graduated as Geologist from the National University of Córdoba in 1985. He completed his PhD in 1995 through an international program between the National University of Córdoba and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, focusing on Cambro-Ordovician carbonate rocks of western Argentina. He is currently a full-time Professor and Researcher at the University of Río Cuarto, Argentina, and Research Affiliate at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability (ICBIA UNRC-CONICET). His research focuses on the stratigraphy and sedimentology of Lower Paleozoic carbonate platforms in the Precordillera region of western Argentina, with particular emphasis on facies models, platform evolution, and the role of microbes and calcibacteria in early Paleozoic reef development.
