World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Earth Science

D-Index
58
Citations
9255
World Ranking
2211
National Ranking
236

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
59
Citations
10227
World Ranking
12761
National Ranking
993

Overview

Richard J. Butler is affiliated with the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Their research primarily spans the fields of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with a significant focus on Environmental Science.

The scientist's work encompasses several subfields, including Paleontology, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Global and Planetary Change, Geometry and Topology, and Anthropology. Their main topics of study concentrate on Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution and Paleontology Studies, Ichthyology and Marine Biology, Amphibian and Reptile Biology, Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils, Morphological Variations and Asymmetry, and Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies.

Richard J. Butler has authored numerous scientific articles, contributing to several frequent publication venues such as Royal Society Open Science, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Current Biology, Palaeontology, and The Anatomical Record.

Significant recent papers by the scientist include:

  • The spatial structure of Phanerozoic marine animal diversity, 2020, Science
  • Biodiversity across space and time in the fossil record, 2021, Current Biology
  • The apparent exponential radiation of Phanerozoic land vertebrates is an artefact of spatial sampling biases, 2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
  • Dietary diversity and evolution of the earliest flying vertebrates revealed by dental microwear texture analysis, 2020, Nature Communications
  • Climatic drivers of latitudinal variation in Late Triassic tetrapod diversity, 2020, Palaeontology

Collaboration is a notable aspect of their career, with frequent co-authors including Susannah C. R. Maidment, Emma M. Dunne, Roger Benson, Paul M. Barrett, and Nicholas C. Fraser. The volume of joint publications with these co-authors ranges from nine to eighteen papers each, reflecting sustained research partnerships.

Best Publications

  • The phylogeny of the ornithischian dinosaurs

    Richard J. Butler;Paul Upchurch;David B. Norman

  • The origin and early radiation of dinosaurs

    Stephen L. Brusatte;Sterling J. Nesbitt;Randall B. Irmis;Richard J. Butler

  • Mesozoic marine tetrapod diversity: mass extinctions and temporal heterogeneity in geological megabiases affecting vertebrates

    Roger B. J. Benson;Richard J. Butler;Johan Lindgren;Adam S. Smith

  • The extinction of the dinosaurs

    Stephen L. Brusatte;Richard J. Butler;Paul M. Barrett;Matthew T. Carrano

  • Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas

    Paul M. Barrett;Richard J. Butler;Nicholas P. Edwards;Andrew R. Milner

  • The earliest bird-line archosaurs and the assembly of the dinosaur body plan

    Sterling J. Nesbitt;Richard J. Butler;Martín D. Ezcurra;Martín D. Ezcurra;Paul M. Barrett

  • Climate constrains the evolutionary history and biodiversity of crocodylians

    Philip D. Mannion;Roger B. J. Benson;Matthew T. Carrano;Jonathan P. Tennant

  • Air-filled postcranial bones in theropod dinosaurs: physiological implications and the ‘reptile’–bird transition

    Roger B. J. Benson;Richard J. Butler;Matthew T. Carrano;Patrick M. O'Connor

  • Rise of dinosaurs reveals major body-size transitions are driven by passive processes of trait evolution

    Roland B. Sookias;Richard J. Butler;Roger B. J. Benson;Roger B. J. Benson

  • The Origin and Early Evolution of Sauria: Reassessing the Permian Saurian Fossil Record and the Timing of the Crocodile-Lizard Divergence

    Martín D. Ezcurra;Torsten M. Scheyer;Richard J. Butler

  • The spatial structure of Phanerozoic marine animal diversity

    Roger Close;Roger B J Benson;Erin Saupe;Matthew Clapham

  • A primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic of South Africa, and the early evolution and diversification of Ornithischia

    Richard J Butler;Roger M.H Smith;David B Norman

  • Geological and anthropogenic controls on the sampling of the terrestrial fossil record: a case study from the Dinosauria

    P. Upchurch;P. D. Mannion;R. B. J. Benson;R. J. Butler

  • The Sail-Backed Reptile Ctenosauriscus from the Latest Early Triassic of Germany and the Timing and Biogeography of the Early Archosaur Radiation

    Richard J. Butler;Stephen L. Brusatte;Stephen L. Brusatte;Mike Reich;Sterling J. Nesbitt

  • Estimating the effects of sampling biases on pterosaur diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement

    Richard J. Butler;Paul M. Barrett;Stephen Nowbath;Paul Upchurch

  • Footprints pull origin and diversification of dinosaur stem lineage deep into Early Triassic.

    Stephen L. Brusatte;Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki;Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki;Richard J. Butler

  • The rise of the ruling reptiles and ecosystem recovery from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction

    Martín D. Ezcurra;Martín D. Ezcurra;Richard J. Butler

  • Sea level, dinosaur diversity and sampling biases: investigating the 'common cause' hypothesis in the terrestrial realm.

    Richard J. Butler;Roger B. J. Benson;Matthew T. Carrano;Philip D. Mannion

  • The 'fabrosaurid' ornithischian dinosaurs of the Upper Elliot Formation (Lower Jurassic) of South Africa and Lesotho

    Richard J. Butler

  • Uncovering the diversification history of marine tetrapods: ecology influences the effect of geological sampling biases

    Roger B. J. Benson;Richard J. Butler

  • How do geological sampling biases affect studies of morphological evolution in deep time?: A case study of pterosaur (Reptilia: Archosauria) disparity

    Richard J. Butler;Stephen L. Brusatte;Stephen L. Brusatte;Brian Andres;Roger B. J. Benson

Frequent Co-Authors

Martín D. Ezcurra
Martín D. Ezcurra University of Birmingham
Roger B. J. Benson
Roger B. J. Benson University of Oxford
Paul M. Barrett
Paul M. Barrett Natural History Museum
Stephen L. Brusatte
Stephen L. Brusatte University of Edinburgh
Philip D. Mannion
Philip D. Mannion University College London
Paul Upchurch
Paul Upchurch University College London
David J. Gower
David J. Gower Natural History Museum
Sterling J. Nesbitt
Sterling J. Nesbitt Virginia Tech
John Alroy
John Alroy Macquarie University
Max C. Langer
Max C. Langer Universidade de São Paulo

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Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

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Creative skills gained from an mfa online program can also complement Earth Science careers, especially in scientific communication and environmental education roles.

Additionally, advancing in leadership and management through online human resource management masters programs can prepare Earth Science graduates for administrative and organizational roles within research institutions and environmental organizations.

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