BrainMap

Zoltan Csiki-Sava

- UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Teaching staff

I am a university teaching staff member and researcher, with training in Geology, interested in topics such as Historical Geology, Mesozoic continental ecosystems, Mesozoic vertebrate evolution and palaeobiogeography, continenetal sedimentology, taphonomy and palaeoecology; vertebrate palaeobiology, and European continental ecosystems. My main research focus is on the latest Cretaceous continental vertebrates from the Transylvanian area in Romania, former inhabitants of the ancient Hațeg Island within the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago.

Web of Science ResearcherID: not public

Expertise & keywords

Natural history of an endemic insular radiation: the kogaionid multituberculates and their relevance for brain and sense evolution in Mammalia Call name: P 4 - Proiecte de Cercetare Exploratorie, 2020
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2570 2021 - 2023

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: https://multi-brain.weebly.com/

Abstract:

Mass extinctions fundamentally shape the trajectory of evolutionary changes. The major extinction that took place at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary (KPgB) resulted in the rise to dominance of the mammals (today represented by monotremes, marsupials and placentals) by bringing about the demise of the dinosaurs that dominated the Mesozoic Era. The relatively larger, more complex brains of the mammals are often assumed to represent a major competitive edge over the dinosaurs, one that contributed to their survival by making them ecologically more versatile. The multituberculates are another major mammalian group besides those living today that survived the KPgB extinction, but it is as yet unknown whether their success was also linked to their increased brain capacity. Using as a case study the kogaionids, a peculiar endemic radiation of multituberculates, the project addresses this issue. The kogaionids inhabited the latest Cretaceous Hațeg Island and dispersed across all Europe after the KPgB. Their well-preserved fossils conserve brain and inner ear structures that we will compare to those of other multituberculates as well as other mammals. We aim to investigate the brain structure of kogaionids and other multituberculates using CT-scan and SEM, infer their ecological traits, and map patterns of their spatio-temporal distribution. By doing so, we will explore the causes of their success, while contributing essential data to the topic of early mammalian brain evolution.

A dwarf among giants: Transylvanian sauropod dinosaur diversity in the lead-up to the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction Call name:
2018 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: Imperial College London

Project partners: Imperial College London ()

Affiliation: Imperial College London ()

Project website:

Abstract:

Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems and environments in „Hateg Island”: focus on vertebrate diversity and evolution in the european context Call name: Exploratory Research Projects - PCE-2011 call
PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0381 2011 - 2016

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://www.codreavlad.ro/prezentarea-grantului-nr-pn-ii-id-pce-2011-3-0381/

Abstract:

The studies on the late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems are of major interest for the knowledge of the geological events occurred inside this time span, just before the K/T boundary. The areas bearing exposures of such formations are worldwide almost rare. In our country, the reference area for such studies was for over a century the Hateg Basin, where the Maastrichtian fossils are bearing extremely peculiar dinosaur faunas. This project refers to broadening these researches in less studied areas located elsewhere in Transylvania and South-Western Carpathians, like in Transylvanian or Rusca Montana basins. These areas already yielded rich and peculiar fossils (fauna and flora), mainly dinosaurs and mammals, which could bring new details about tendencies like endemic evolution, migrations, paleoenvironments etc. These regions are bearing well-exposed late Cretaceous formations, still poor studied.

An integrated approach to the Bio- and Geodiversity of the Upper Cretaceous with dinosaurs from the Hateg Basin. Subtheme: Cretaceous volcanism from the Hateg County Call name:
2009 - 2011

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: ACADEMIA ROMANA

Project partners: ACADEMIA ROMANA (); UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: ACADEMIA ROMANA ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The Maastrichtian continental palaeo-ecosystem of the Hațeg Basin – Reconstruction of the physical-geographical and biotic environment of a reference palaeobiocoenosis from the Late Cretaceous Call name:
1930 PCE-IDEI, PNCDI II - CNCSIS 2009 - 2011

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The objective of the project is the detailed reconstruction of a continental ecosystem from the end of the Cretaceous Period, preserved in the Maastrichtian deposits of the Hațeg Basin (Romania), along the following directions: the physical-geographical and biotic environment the paleobiocoenosis lived in; the taxonomic and ecologic composition of the biocoenosis, including the potential relationships and interactions between the different elements of the ecosystem; the main living environments as typified by the sedimentary deposits and their associated local paleobiocoenoses; the special paleobiological features of the assemblage, as well as the relationship of this ecosystem to other contemporaneous ones from Europe and worldwide. This ecosystemic reconstruction aims first to understand the origin and evolution of the Hațeg assemblageand its place in the wider framework of the Late Cretaceous continental ecosystems, but also to offer a model for reliable reconstruction of an ecosystem (including graphical reconstructions) that will represent the support for the development of a future dinosaur museum, foreseen to be built within the Hațeg County Dinosaurs Geopark. The reconstruction will be realized using a multidisciplinary approach, involving specialists from different areas (paleozoology, paleobotany, mineralogy-petrology, paleomagnetism), and the main lines of investigation will be: the establishment of the paleoclimatic and paleogeographic setting of the area inhabited by the studied ecosystem; identification and characterization of the main biotopes (as represented by the main sedimentary environments); inventory of the elements of the paleobiocoenosis with their most important paleoecological and paleobiological features; establishment of the relationships between living environments and local biotic communities; reconstructions (including graphical ones) of the Maastrichtian ecosystem from Hațeg.

Early Jurassic continental ecosystems from Romania Call name:
2007 - 2010

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

Laramic magmatism from the Hateg Basin - Tectonic causality and sedimentological consequences for the dinosaurs bearing continental deposits Call name:
2007 - 2009

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

Bone histology of the Hațeg ornithopod dinosaurs Zalmoxes and Telmatosaurus and its paleobiological implications - are these taxa insular dwarfs? Call name:
Synthesys GB-TAF-3417 2007 - 2007

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: Natural History Museum London

Project partners: Natural History Museum London ()

Affiliation: Natural History Museum London ()

Project website:

Abstract:

Endemics in the Maastrichtian vertebrate fauna from the Haţeg Basin: Systematics and phylogeny of the titanosaurid sauropods and the kogaionid multituberculates; Call name:
2003 - 2004

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The Maastrichtian continental vertebrate fauna of the Hateg Basin is one of the most important ones

from the European Late Cretaceous, through its taxic abundance and diversity, as well as through its

geographic, paleogeographic and stratigraphic occurence. Some elements of the fauna (turtles,

crocodilians, ornithopods) were recently reviewed, showing that they represent key taxa for the

understanding of both the phylogenetic relationships of their inclusive clades and the

paleobiogeography and evolution of the Hateg fauna in overall. Such reviews are currently lacking in

case of two other groups: the titanosaurian sauropods and the kogaionid multituberculates, otherwise

represented by numerous fossil remains. This study is aimed to supplement this lack.

After the inventory and morphological study of the accesible fossil material belonging to these groups

(mainly in colections from Bucharest, Budapest and London, partly Deva, Cluj, Bruxelles), the

following conclusions emerged:

- the taxix diversity of the Hateg sauropods is higher than expected previously, three different taxa

being represented, each characterised by autapomorphic features, but belonging to the larger group

of titanosaurs. A single taxon (Magyarosaurus) is, however, complete enough to be included into a

phylogenetic analysis. This analysis, done with the PAUP program version 4b10, based on a matrix

with 44 taxa and 330 characters, showed that Magyarosaurus and the other Late Senonian european

titanosaurs do not form a clade exclusive of other taxa.

- the kogaionid multituberculates represent an european endemic group, with distinct evolution and an

impressive radiation in the Maastrichtian of the Hateg Basin, where it is represented by 8 or 9 different

taxa. The phylogenetic analysis resulted in a well-defined clade of the kogaionids, contributing as well

to the better definition of the previously published cladograms.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects