09 20 09 Institut Català de Paleontologia 20 Edifici ICP Campus de la UAB 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) Barcelona - Spain Tel. +34 93 586 83 37 Fax +34 93 586 83 33 www.icp.cat Institut Català de Paleontologia Institut Català de Paleontologia Generalitat de Catalunya Departament d’Innovació, ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL Universitats i Empresa REPORT ANNUAL Publication and Coordination Documentation Department Institut Català de Paleontologia Design Mètode Design Photographs BadiaCasanova Carles Raurich Fons fotogràfic ICP INDEX 3 1 WELCOME TO THE ICP 4 2 RESEARCH MESOZOIC GROUP 8 3 RESEARCH NEOGENE AND QUATERNARY FAUNAS 16 4 RESEARCH PALEOPRIMATOLOGY AND HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY GROUP 24 5 RESEARCH PALEOBIOLOGICAL GROUP 32 6 RESEARCH VIRTUAL PALEONTOLOGY GROUP 40 7 DEPARTMENT OF PREPARATION-CONSERVATIÓN 44 8 DEPARTMENT OF COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT 48 9 DISSEMINATION AREA MIQUEL CRUSAFONT MUSEUM 52 10 DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND SCIENTIFIC DISSEMINATION 56 11 DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT 60 12 FUNDING AND PROJECTS 64 4 The Institut Català de Paleontologia (ICP) is a private foundation created in November 1969, sponsored by the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The ICP took over the Institut de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, founded in 1969, and inherited its Museum and Collections Conservation departments. 1 Catalonia has a long history, which helps us to understand the success that the ICP has achieved. This legacy includes the region’s rich fossil deposits, extensive sites of extraordinary quality and above all, the works originally undertaken in his time by Doctor Mi- quel Crusafont, the real founder of the Catalan school of vertebrate paleontology. The reserarch carried out by the ICP is founded on Catalonia’s extensive peleontological heritage, as well as on projects outside our boundaries which are of special scientific significance and interest. Proof of this rich inheritance is the is ICP’s collection of fossil vertebrates, one of the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, with nigh on 200,000 specimens of vertebrates which lived between 240 million and 100,000 years ago. The ICP’s collections, which grow year after year, thanks to the research projects, are a constant source of scientific work and consultation by paleontologists from all over the world. In this field, the ICP’s Collections Management Department is outstanding. This Department has has become a centre of innovation at the forefront of the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the whole of Spain. The ICP team consists jointly of a variety of professional typologies, who undertake the traditional paleontology tasks - excavations, taxonomy and description – while at the same time combining the most up-to-date techniques of virtual paleontology, based on advanced methodologies for observing fossils. Together they are able to blend paleontology with other scientific fields, such as philosophy, ecology and even genetics. to the ICP to 2009 INSTITUT CATALÀ DE PALEONTOLOGIA CATALÀ 2009 INSTITUT In addition, at the ICP headquarters, the fields of Preparation and Conservation are increasingly important, as has been manifested by the setting-up of the First Conservation Workhop. This is the first workshop on this subject matter set up on the peninsula, and it has been warmly welcomed by the attending public. As a result of the success it has achieved, the IPC is planning to set up a second ANNUAL REPORT REPORT ANNUAL WELCOME workshop in the near future. 1 WELCOME TO THE ICP 5 The various typologies of professionals and the use of new methodologies the success achieved by the ICP Similarly, the IPC has a Funding and Projects Department. The aim The Miquel Crusafont Department is currently in a process of of this department is to find the most suitable sources of funding refurbishment, aimed at creating a museum which offers the visitor (sponsors, grants, subsidiers, etc.) and process the recruiting of new an interactive experience. The specific aim is to make the visitor the pre-doctorate and post-doctorate research staff. The aim is to enable real protagonist in the various phases of exploration while he or she the ICP to have the means necessary in order to continue progres- experiences, touches, looks and hears. So that no-one is excluded, sing and to remain at the forefront of paleontological research. various levels of comprehension are brought together, where both And during 2009, the ICP research staff achieved an exceptional people with sensory reduction and people with special intellectual volume in scientific production and a noteworthy level of quality in needs can acquire and delve into the information obtained. research. Proof of this is the series of articles published in magazi- The essential aim of this site is to communicate the importance nes of the Science Citation Index (SCI), with a higher impact factor, of paleontological research. The kingpins will be the compiling of as well as the conferring of an variety of grants and awards to the the processes undertaken during research, from the moment of research staff. discovery to the publication of an article, passing through the phases Consequently, thanks to the combined work of each and every of preparation, study and conservation. one of the members of the centre, the ICP is currently considered To achieve this, the ICP the communications media and the ICP’s new a benchmark centre in research, conservation and dissemination website are of vital importance so that the various groups of people can of human and vertebrate paleontology. For this reason, the Institut be integrated and participate in the centre’s paleontological project. continues to promote the highest quality research, both nationally Three years after the creation of the IPC, we can say that the research and internationally, with extraordinary and unprecedented results. work carried out in the centre has achieved extraordinary qualitative and quantitative levels. That is why we continue to be the benchmark verte- Dissemination of the paleontological heritage brate and human paleontology centre both nationally and internationally. One of the ICP’s fundamental aims is to disseminate and commu- As a consequence, we are progressing confidently, and are proud nicate the research done by researchers to society as a whole. This to make this great challenge possible, and we thank our loyal is probably the essential difference compared to the vast majority sponsors, without whom we could not have reached this position: of research centres included in the CERCA programme. And within the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de the ICP structure, there is a specific department for dissemination, Barcelona. Thank you! the Miquel Crusafont Museum area, located at the Sabadell (Barcelona) centre. 6 SALVADOR MOYÀ-SOLÀ Director Coordination Research Collaborators Staff Staff COORDINATION STAFF Enric Laila Pilgren Laura Celià Sandra Val Irene Lapuente Teresa Esquirol M. Teresa Mònica Menéndez Funding Jordi Galindo Preparation/ Scientific ICP Museum Requena Cucurella Management and Projects Collection conservation Communication Library and Manel Llenas Management and Dissemina- Documentation Manel Méndez tion Maria Pereira Services Gretell García Mireia Beas Marta Valls Administration Daniela Asaro M. Elena Nieto Marta March Xènia Aymerich Diana C. Mas Carolina Cancelo Training Nuria Guerrero Students Preparation/ conservation Staff RESEARCH COLLABORATORS STAFF Neogene and Mesozoic Human Paleontology Paleobiology group Virtual paleontology Carlos Acosta Quaternary faunas Group and Paleoprimatology Meike Köhler group Josep Aurell group Group Àngel Galobart Group manager Josep Fortuny Lluís Checa Salvador Moyà Salvador Moyà Group manager Pre-doctorate Àngel Luján Group manager Group manager member Begonya Poza Josep M. Robles Cheyenn Rotgers Jan Van Damm Fabio Dalla Vecchia Raef Minwer-Barakat Xavier Jordana Ivette Susanna Researcher Nikolaus Malchus David M. Alba Soledad de Esteban Isaac Casanovas Researchers Post-doctorate members Post-doctorate Marc Furió Josep Marmi members Daniel de Miguel Post-doctorate Sergio Almécija Nekane Marín Post-doctorate member Judith Marigó Pre-doctorate members Arnau Bolet Miriam Pérez de los Rios member Joan Madurell Josep Fortuny Imma Roig Rubén García Pre-doctorate Albert Garcia member Pre-doctorate Laboratory Andrés Santos members technician Bernat Vila Marta Palmero Pre-doctorates members Scientific illustrator 1 WELCOME TO THE ICP 7 Scientific advisory board Prof. Prof. Prof. JAUME TRUYOLS SANTONJA NIEVES LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ LORENZO ROOK Departamento de Paleontología Departamento de Paleontología Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Universidad de Oviedo Universidad Complutense de Madrid Università di Firenze SPAIN SPAIN ITALY Prof. Prof. Prof. MICHEL BRUNET BRIAN MCNAB JOSÉ LUIS SANZ Directeur UMR CNRS 6046 Florida State University Departamento de Paleontología Laboratoire de Géobiologie, Biochronolo- USA Universidad Autónoma de Madrid gie et Paléontologie Humaine SPAIN Université de Poitiers Prof. FRANCE DAVID PILBEAM Prof. Prof. Henry Ford II Professor of the Social ELISABETH VRBA GABRIELE MACHO Sciences Curator of Paleoanthropology Dep. of Geology and Geophysics Roehampton University Peabody Museum Yale University School of Human & Life Sciences Harvard University USA LONDON USA 8 The Mesozoic research group studies the fauna and flora of the Mesozoic Era, a geological period which has provided a large number of sites in the regions of Catalonia and Valencia.