I am Andrea ‘Tracemaker’ Baucon, welcome on my homepage!

My research interests are focused on the study of Ichnology, that is the study of life-substrate interactions. You can find me on the peak of the mountains looking for fossil tracks or I can annoy your beach-time while looking for recent worm burrows on the tidal flat.

However, I am not only studying traces: I also produce them!
I am involved in Digital Arts and multimedia design…follow my creative traces in this website!

Research interests

I research on fossil burrowsmodern burrowsastrobiologygeology and arthistory of science

research interests of Andrea Baucon

TRACE FOSSILS

The fossilized products of life-substrate interactions (ichnofossils or trace fossils) are the only direct evidence for ancient animal behaviour. For instance, trilobite burrows and dinosaur tracks can tell us how their producers moved, dwelled or searched for food. I am interested in using ichnofossils for understanding behaviour and environment of extinct animals.

MODERN ANIMAL ARCHITECTURES

Life produces sophisticate architectures by interacting with the substrate, e.g. the U-shaped burrows of bristleworms and the underground tunnels of ants. I am interested in understanding how animals build such architectures, what is their function and whether their distribution is environmentally-controlled.

COMPUTATIONAL PALEONTOLOGY

I am interested in using computational tools to explore quantitatively the fossil record. Fractal analysis can quantify geometries of extinct life; geostatistics allows to estimate the values of (paleo)biologically important variables at unsampled positions; network theory is very useful for finding patterns in complex paleontological datasets.

ASTROBIOLOGY

Burrows, trails and tracks preserve the activity of soft-bodied organisms, are resilient to processes that obliterate other biological signatures and their shape is virtually independent from the biochemistry of their tracemakers. These properties motivate me to apply the study of life-substrate interactions (ichnology) to the search for life beyond Earth.

GEOLOGY IN ART & HISTORY OF PALAEONTOLOGY

Since Leonardo da Vinci times, art has been a passionate way to describe geological phenomena. I am interested in walking along this line of continuity between science and art to explore the history of geology, with particular emphasis on palaeontology.

I PRODUCE TRACES

by interacting with the substrate

SCIENTIFIC PORTFOLIO

interested in exploring my research? Click on the images below!

astrobiology and ichnology - from the homepage of Andrea Baucon

Organism-substrate interactions and astrobiology: Potential, models and methods

7. Astrobiology

Evolution of Crustaceans at the edge of the end-Permian crisis: Ichnonetwork analysis of the fluvial succession of Nurra (Permian–Triassic, Sardinia, Italy)

1. Palaeoichnology, 2. Paleozoic, 3. Mesozoic, 6. Computational palaeontology

Neoichnology of a barrier-island system: The Mula di Muggia (Grado lagoon, Italy)

5. Neoichnology

The IchnoGIS method: Network science and geostatistics in ichnology. Theory and application (Grado lagoon, Italy)

5. Neoichnology, 6. Computational palaeontology

“A new study [led by Andrea Baucon] suggests that burrows, borings and trails are ideal to detect any type of extraterrestrial life that may have been existed”

– National Geographic (September 2017)

National Geographic

“A team led by Andrea Baucon […] suggests that astrobiologists should follow suit and search not just for living and fossilised creatures, but also the traces they may have left behind”

– Mika McKinnon, New Scientist (22 July 2017)

new scientist

“A team of scientists […] led by Andrea Baucon […] proposes a new approach to astrobiology (the search for evidence of the existence of life on other planets): following the fossilized traces left by organisms”

– Matteo Marini, La Repubblica.it (July 2017)

“Baucon also discovered evidence that Leonardo da Vinci was the first to understand trace fossils, pushing the science of ichnology back several centuries”

– Adrienne Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (2011)

TRACEMAKER BLOG

follow my research in a timeline fashion

November 2021

Palaeoecology quiz!

November 11, 2021 Uncategorized 0

I am teaching the course “Palaeoecology: methods and applications” at the University of Genova. Here…

October 2021

Andrea Baucon on the Secolo XIX newspaper

My research on the Secolo XIX newspaper

October 16, 2021 Uncategorized 0

My astrobiological research has been featured on the Secolo XIX newspaper! The article focuses on…

July 2021

Tavira Island

July 17, 2021 Uncategorized 0

Anyone clicking on this link before August 29, 2021 will be taken directly to the…

The Geology cover features my research!

July 17, 2021 Uncategorized 0

Across the past 500 million years, deep-sea animal burrows have followed assembly rules remarkably similar…

June 2021

Ichnology on Radio Rai

June 8, 2021 Uncategorized 0

I will talk about my research on Caterpillar, a show aired by the national public... Read More

April 2021

I’m on YouTube!

April 29, 2021 Uncategorized 0

Follow this link to check my YouTube channel about palaeontology!

Flammarion book

April 24, 2021 Uncategorized 0

In the 19th-century, Camille Flammarion authored a magnificent book about the Earth Sciences. Many scientific…

Backstage pictures of my video

April 23, 2021 Uncategorized 0

Here are some of backstage pictures of my video about the geology and palaeontology of…

New Geologic Video Published!

April 23, 2021 Uncategorized 0

I published my new short documentary about the trace fossils of Sauris, Italy! The Alps…

August 2020

Focus deals with my research

August 13, 2020 Uncategorized 0

Focus is one of the major Italian science magazines. It discussed my research on ichnology…

STUDYING LIFE-SUBSTRATE INTERACTIONS

from the Mediterranean Sea to Mongolia

Andrea Baucon in Mongolia

POPULARIZATION OF GEOLOGY

creative ways to disseminate geology

Exhibits

Paleobiologica – 600 million years in art is a set of large-sized paintings that I realized for Dinoexpo, world’s largest travelling exibition about dinosaurs

Geology&Art is an exhibit exploring the aesthetic diversity of geological art.

Why geology in art? I tackled this question by interviewing contemporary artists dealing with geology. The answer is surprising!

Videos

Mongolia in Super 8 is the reportage of a scientific expedition in Mongolia. Proudly made with a noisy Super 8 camera!

Geodelia is a Video Art installation linking Geology and Art. Do petrographic thin secions fit well into a music festival?