We work on the folloing topics (for details, see below): Evolutionary patterns, Mass Extinctions, Evolutionary paleoecology, Evolutionary Morphology, Diversification patterns, Paleoecology, Paleobiogeography, Taxonomy, Functional Morphology, Taphonomy, Ichnofossils..
We work on the folloing time intervals: Phanerozoic as a whole, Permian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent .
We work on the following groups: Bivalvia, gastropods, Ammonoidea, Belemnites, Scaphopods, Crabs, Foraminifers, Dinosaurs.
Areas of fieldwork: Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, Mumbai.
Methodologies used: Experimental setups, Fieldworks, Global Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis.
Taxonomic dievrsity has increased throughout the Phanerozoic, and the overall ecological diversity has also increased in general. However, what is the pattern and process behind this eoclogical diversification? Recently Mondal and Harries (2016) has published a paper in Earth-science Reviews to show this Phanerozoic diversification pattern in bivalves, where they have used the classic Bambachina Ecospace model.
It was generally assumed that predation pressure is the highest in the tropics and gradually decline towards the pole. However, recent findings reveal a much complex pattern - predation can either increase, decrease, or remain unchanged. It has also been revelaed that this latitudinal pattern in drilling (we call it LDPG [Latitudinal Drilling Predation Gradient]) may even be the higgest in the mid-latitudes for some of the well-studied intervals, or the latitudinal pattern may be completely random; the pattern may changes through time as well. For details, see Mondal et al., 2017. Palaios; Mondal et al. 2019. Palaios; and Mondal et al., 2021. PLos ONE.
Taphonomy can completely restructure the ecological structure that are being preserved as fossil record. Threfore, it is the primay goal of a Paleontologist to account fot the bias related to taphonomy (Biostratinomy or Diagenesis, or both). We try to quantify the degree of biostratinomic damages in the recent coastal dead molluscan assemblages, and identify the biogeographic pattern, if any. In a recent article, we defined a Siliciclastic Beach Taphofacies using data from the eastern Indian coast. For details, check these article: Mondal et al., 2021.
We also work on the most fundamental study of Biodiversity, i.e., taxonomy. We use quantitative ways as well as the classical ways to identify and name newly discovered species/taxa for differnet time intervals. We studeid Miocene Sharks from Odissa: Mondal et al., 2009. We, recently have published a paper on the Oldest gastropod from the Jurassic of Gujarat: Das et al., 2019.