Dr. Andrzej Kaim is Associate Professor at the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland. His research interests include the early ontogeny and phylogeny of mollusks, in particular gastropods, and the recovery and paleodiversity patterns of benthic marine faunas after the Permian-Triassic extinction event. In the last 25 years he has worked on the origin and evolution of chemoautotrophic communities studying material from a variety of ancient hydrocarbon seeps, ranging from the Arctic to the Antarctic and the U.S. Pacific Coast to Japan. Dr. J. Kirk Cochran is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, New York. His research interests include the use of isotope systems as tracers for processes in modern aquatic environments, including the coastal and open ocean, lakes, rivers and groundwater. He has also used isotope geochemistry as a tool for deciphering ancient marine environments, including the Western Interior Seaway of North America and hydrocarbon seeps. Dr. Neil H. Landman is Curator Emeritus in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. His interests include the evolution of externally shelled cephalopods, especially ammonites, the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary event, and the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior of North America. In the last 20 years, he has worked together with colleagues and students to study ancient hydrocarbon seeps.
