My research mostly revolves around critical moments in evolutionary history, with insight being developed primarily through the lenses of Lagerstätten, or deposits of exceptional fossil preservation. These deposits, where large amounts, or otherwise particularly useful types, of paleontological information are preserved, allow us to answer a range of important questions about the paleobiology, evolutionary history, and even extinction history of ancient organisms. A unifying question central to much of my work is "What is the role of predator-prey relationships in guiding the course of evolution and extinction?"

Three critical moments in evolutionary history that I study:

1, Population of the oceans during the Cambrian diversification event. Insight is obtained through study of fossils from Burgess Shale-type deposits of North America, Greenland, and Asia. What was the role of predator-prey escalation in reorganizing marine ecosystems, stimulating evolutionary diversification, and the acquisition of biomineralized skeletons in many animals?

2, Rise, diversification, and ecological expansion of jawed fishes. This work concentrates on Devonian and Carboniferous deposits of North America. What was the ecological and evolutionary impact of predatory jawed fishes as they diversified in marine ecosystems and expanded into freshwater ecosystems?

3, Extinction of large North American mammal species such as giant ground sloths and dire wolves during the Quaternary. This work involves study of skeletal and cultural materials from Pleistocene-Holocene deposits. This was a time of glacial recession in the Northern Hemisphere, and a time of expansion of human populations in North America. What were the relative contributions of ecosystem changes, including human hunting activity, on characteristic Ice Age mammals? 

In addition to these central scientific questions, I also study methods of global stratigraphic correlation, which lead to refinement of the geologic time scale, and provide the "calendar" of Earth and evolutionary history.

Here links to some recent publications:

Babcock, L.E. 2025a. Marine arthropod Fossil-Lagerstätten. Journal of Paleontology 99: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2025.2

Babcock, L.E. 2025b. Rediscovery of the type specimens of the sarcopterygian fishes Onychodus sigmoides and Onychodus hopkinsi from the Devonian of Ohio. Diversity 17(6), 375: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17060375

Babcock, L.E.; Kelley, D.F.; Krygier, J.B.; Ausich, W.I.; Dyer, D.L.; Gnidovec, D.M.; Grunow, A.M.; Jones, D.M.; Maletic, E.; Querin, C.; McDonald, H.G.; Wood, D.J. 2025. Collections for the Public Good: A Case Study from Ohio. Diversity 17, 392. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17060392

Babcock, L.E. 2024a. Replacement names for two species of Orthacanthus Agassiz, 1843 (Chondrichthyes, Xenacanthiformes), and discussion of Giebelodus Whitley, 1940, replacement name for Chilodus Giebel, 1848 (Chondrichthyes, Xenacanthiformes), preoccupied by Chilodus Müller & Troschel, 1844 (Actinopterygii, Characiformes). ZooKeys 1188: 219–226. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1188.108571

Babcock, L.E. 2024b. Some vertebrate types (Chondrichthyes, Actinopterygii, Sarcopterygii, and Tetrapoda) from two Paleozoic Lagerstätten of Ohio, U.S.A., Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 44, e2308621.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2024.2308621

Babcock, L.E. 2024c. Nomenclatural history of Megalonyx Jefferson, 1799 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae). ZooKeys 1195: 297–308. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1195.117999

Babcock, L.E. 2024d. A treasure trove of trilobites. In Bonino, E., and Kier, C., The Back to the Past Museum Guide to Trilobites II. Cancun, Mexico: Back to the Past Museum, p. XIII. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377837612_The_Back_to_the_Past_Museum_Guide_to_TRILOBITES_II

Babcock, L.E., Feldmann, R.M., Grunow, A.M. 2024. Cretaceous–Palaeogene lobsters, Hoploparia stokesi (Weller, 1903), from Antarctica: historical review, and transfer of specimens from the United States Polar Rock Repository. Polar Research 43, 9866. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v43.9866

Peng, S.C., Babcock, L.E., Yang, X.F., Zhu, X.J. 2024a. First complete specimens of Karslanus (Trilobita, Dameselloidea) from Longha Formation (Cambrian: Guzhangian), Yunnan, South China. Palaeoworld 33(4): 829–838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2023.05.004

Peng, S.C., Babcock, L.E., Yang, X.F., Zhu, X.J., Liu, Y. 2024b. A new dameselloid trilobite from the Fulu Biota, Longha Formation (Cambrian: Guzhangian), Yunnan, South China, and revised classification of dameselloids. Palaeoworld 33(1): 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2023.01.006

Other recent publications illustrate a sampling of my recent research.