For several years, due to the scientific orientation of the Laboratory only projects related to Micropalaeontology were supported.
Nowadays, the Laboratory’s objective is to broaden the range of the scientific subjects covered so far, and to support the Department’s palaeontological and stratigraphic research with a wider array of topics incorporating the use of modern techniques and methods.
Thus, important efforts are being made to cover more palaeontological and stratigraphic topics within research projects in which the Laboratory is participating or organizing. In these projects, the participation of students (undergraduate and post-graduate) through dissertation assignments and practice is encouraged in order to be trained in using Palaeontology and Stratigraphy as tools for geological research.
The research topics currently covered in the Laboratory are related to the following scientific fields:
- Vertebrate Palaeontology, with emphasis on mammals and fish
- Invertebrate Palaeontology
- Palaeobotany – Palynology
- Micropalaeontology, with emphasis on foraminifera and ostracods
- Taphonomy, fossilization processes
- Geochemistry of fossils (bones, shells)
- Bone and shell histology
- Stratigraphy – Biostratigraphy
- Palaeoecology, Palaeoenvironment
- Palaeobiogeography
- Zoo-archaeology
- Trace fossils
