Institute of Paleobiology Polish Academy of Sciences - Institute Of Paleobiology Polish Academy of Sciences

For over 70 years, the Roman Kozłowski Institute of Paleobiology has been conducting in-depth studies of the history of life on Earth. Every year, the Institute publishes dozens of peer-reviewed articles, organizes conferences, foreign expeditions and excavations in new paleontological sites. We educate PhD students, publish the best paleontological journal in Poland (Acta Palaeontologica Polonica) and popularize science.
The staff and laboratories are open to cooperation with other research centers and interdisciplinary projects. An essential part of our Institute is the Paleontological Collection, gathering the largest fossil collections in Poland (hundreds of thousands of specimens), partly exhibited in the Museum of Evolution.

News

28.10.2025 14:00

Manouria morla, a Miocene tortoise

The paper presents a new Miocene species of a tortoise from Czechia – Manouria morla. Its specific name refers to Morla the Aged One, a turtle from “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende.

21.10.2025 13:42

Deep-sea corals: The future architects of reefs

Though coral reefs cover only a small part of Earth’s surface, they support over a quarter of marine species and nearly a billion people.

16.10.2025 10:01

Food strengthens coral skeletons and survival in an acid ocean

Deep ocean waters are seen as refugia that can protect cold-water, non-symbiotic corals from warming and acidification.

13.10.2025 14:14

Brachiopods of the Variscan orogen

The over-thousand-page monograph on the largest mountain range in Palaeozoic Europe—the Variscan orogen—also includes a chapter on brachiopods. These are among the most common Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous fossils in this area (at least 1,500 species), providing numerous elements for palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographic reconstructions.

10.10.2025 13:46

Ancient corals reveal the secrets of the port of Acre

Exceptionally well-preserved sub-fossil colonies of Cladocora sp. corals from the Hellenistic port of Acre (ca. 335–94 BCE) have made it possible to combine archaeological and modern data, providing a better understanding of climate variability and human influence on ancient coastal processes more than 2000 years ago.

29.09.2025 15:14

Seeing even what we would rather overlook

Imagine a microscope so powerful it can “see” molecules a billion times more precisely than traditional tools. That’s what Photo-induced Force Microscopy (PiFM) does, offering new insights into Earth and environmental sciences.