Early Mesozoic Continental Tetrapod Diversification and Extinction in Eastern N. America

1998年动物更替的原因和程度的解决 过去由于缺乏化石层而变得复杂， 记录这些变化的细微时间尺度。 这项拟议的工作 将研究物种分类多样化的时间变化 晚三叠世和早侏罗世地层中的四足动物 北美东部的纽瓦克超级群 的间隔 通过检查三组时间上相等的床 它们的化石占据了不同的栖息地， 调查人员将以相对较低的价格记录多样化 水平和测试是否下降的潜在竞争非- 恐龙的进化需要进化枝 组 整个研究的目的是提供一个基础， 全球比较。

Resolution of the causes and extent of faunal turnover in the past has been complicated by the absence of fossil beds that document such changes over fine time scales. This proposed work will examine temporal change in taxonomic diversification of tetrapods in Late Triassic and Early Jurassic strata of the Newark Supergroup of eastern North America at 20,000-year intervals. By examining three temporally equivalent sets of beds whose fossils occupied different habitats, the principal investigator will document diversification at relatively fine levels and test whether declines of potentially competing non- dinosaurian clades were required for expansion of dinosaur groups. The entire study is intended to provide a basis for global comparisons.