About
OUR SCIENTIST'S LIFE
How do you go about getting ready to travel to the place you want to collect your fossils from?
We asked Professor Shi what it was like to do the work he does.
Some of the things he talks about are his travels, research and favourite fossils.
Normally when I do field work, I actually spend a lot of time before going out to do research getting my maps ready, getting my plan well organised because you only have a set amount of time in the field, you don't want to waste any hours or minutes in the field, so you really have to know where you're going and what kinds of things you expect to see. So, a lot of preparation, and you usually have to read the literature as well and draw up a very detailed plan.
I'm actually doing that right now, in the middle of preparing my next trip to New South Wales. I've spent almost already four days working on a plan, for a two-week expedition because I have to plan where to stop, what kinds of things I expect to see from there, why I'm stopping there. Because out there, particularly in my case I haven't been to those places before, any unexpected things can happen.
For example, someone may have found a beautiful fossil from a road cutting 30 years ago, that discovery made by accident, but that road cutting might not exist anymore. It might have been totally destroyed and replaced by a house. There are a lot of unexpected things in the field, that’s why as a geologist or palaeontologist you keep going to the same place, many times. The reason why is that the first time you go there may be a reconnaissance trip, basically looking around to see where the rocks are, things are, bring back some samples, analyse them in the laboratory, and if there's anything interesting, if you find something, you go back again, and follow up.
Is it hard to get funding to do research trips?
Yes, generally globally it is difficult to get funding to do basic research like palaeontology. In Australia we do have a scheme, funded by the federal government.
I have been very fortunate, in that I have been funded for most of my research trips and programs and research students but generally it is difficult to get funding.
When you go on research trips, they all contribute to your main area of research. What is that?​
My main area of research is how life and ecosystems evolved over a 50-million-year interval, from 300 million years ago - 250 million years ago.
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I wanted to know what was happening at that time for 50 million years around the world, using the fossil record.
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But obviously I cannot use all of the fossil record, so I chose to use Brachiopod as one group, as a representative, and there's so many things you can do but many of us can only be specialised in one particular group of organisms.
Were you interested in geology in high school? What did you initially choose to study at university?​
I cannot recall when I initially developed an interest in geology but I’m pretty sure I have always had this interest within me. Geology was not my first choice for university study but it was one of my preferences for a university course.
Soon after I started the course I liked it. I really loved the field work, when you're out there in the field, and facing nature, there's so many things waiting there to be discovered, rocks and fossils and minerals in particular. If you're lucky enough and get out to those places where not so much exploration has been undertaken, there's a higher chance to discover new things.
Palaeontology, in a way, is a myth, because we're talking about life that existed hundreds of millions of years ago. So, a palaeontologist, apart from a critical thinking mind, also has to have some degree of imagination and the ability to think beyond the present-day world, because you are talking about a world that existed hundreds of millions of years ago, and I cannot say for sure the world back then was identical to the world now. I'm sure it was different. Life was different. Environment was different. Climate was different. How different? We don't know. That is a quest for science.
What's your favorite fossil?
In terms of my research, my own research, Brachiopod, yes, they are the ones I have spent over 30 years working and research on.
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As a university lecturer I teach almost any aspect of palaeontology, including and across any different taxonomic groups, including dinosaurs, invertebrates, fish, Brachiopod, sea snails, anything. I think whatever you talk about in the fossil record, everything is fascinating.
Prof. Guang Shi
(geologist and palaeontologist)
