REU/RIA: Reconstructing Articulate Brachiopod Phylogeny: Relevance to Hypotheses of Adaptation and Heterochrony

腕足动物是海洋无脊椎动物， 但丰富多样的化石记录 三千种。 桑德拉·卡尔森博士刚获得博士学位提出了一种 超家族水平的祖先-后代研究 关系。 她将开始一项物种水平的研究， 化石群，孔藻科，然后组合成一个属- 所有总科的形态特征水平数据集 从文献中挑选出来 第一 子项目将有助于建立适当的字符， 分析，为第二次更高层次的研究奠定基础。 关于进化的模式已经做了相当多的研究 腕足动物的灭绝，但如果 组的分类是不正确的构造，则 模式可疑。 这项研究将是第一个 明确的，可重复的进化关系分析， 海洋无脊椎动物化石的主要类群之一。 的 由此产生的分类将提供前所未有的水平， 客观的综合，并将提供一个模型，无脊椎动物 古生物学家跟随。

Brachipods are marine invertebrates with relatively few living species but a rich, diverse fossil record of more than 3,000 genera. Dr. Sandra Carlson, a recent Ph.D., proposes a superfamily-level study of their ancestor-descendant relationships. She will begin a species-level study of a pivotal fossil group, the Porambonitacea, and then assemble a genus- level dataset on morphological characters for all superfamilies of the Articulata, to be culled from the literature. The first subproject will help to establish the proper characters for analysis, setting the stage for the second higher level study. Considerable research has been done on patterns of evolution and extinction of the Brachiopoda through time, but if the classification of the group is incorrectly constructed, then the patterns are suspect. The proposed study will be the first explicit, repeatable analysis of evolutionary relationships in one of the dominant groups of marine fossil invertebrates. The resulting classification will provide an unprecendented level of objective synthesis, and will provide a model for invertebrate paleontologists to follow.