ROA: Morphometric and Phylogenetic Investigations of the Paleozoic Order Cryptostomata (Bryozoa: Stenolaemata)

隐口苔藓虫是古生代在世界海洋中大量存在的殖民地生物，它们在那个时代的石灰岩中留下了重要的化石记录。丹尼尔·布莱克博士建议使用最先进的方法来分析形状和形状变化，以研究它们的多样性和随时间的演变。基于微型计算机的图像分析设备将用于在单个生物体和整个菌落的水平上量化有机形状，从而对生长模式进行新的洞察。此外，布莱克博士还将率先使用苔藓虫群体的一系列二维图像来重建和操纵三维结构，从中可以绘制出新的形态细节。这些新的形态测量学数据将构成系统修正的基础，并将分析隐口亚目和其他古生代苔藓虫目之间的进化关系。这项拟议的研究将澄清我们对已灭绝的一类重要无脊椎动物的理解，并将为更多关于进化和灭绝的理论研究提供更一致和客观的基础。提出的方法将开辟新的领域，并将为苔藓虫化石的系统和进化研究设定新的标准。

Cryptostome bryozoans were colonial organisms that abounded in the world's oceans during the Paleozoic Era, and they left a significant fossil record in limestones of that age. Dr. Daniel Blake proposes to use state-of-the-art approaches to the analysis of shape and shape change in a study of their diversity and evolution through time. Microcomputer-based image analysis equipment will be used to quantify organic shape at the level of individual organisms and whole colonies, allowing novel insight into patterns of growth. In addition, Dr. Blake will be the first to use series of two-dimensional images of bryozoan colonies to reconstruct and manipulate three-dimensional structures, from which new details of morphology can be drawn. These new classes of morphometric data will form the basis of systematic revisions, and an analysis of evolutionary relationships within the Cryptostomata and among the other Paleozoic orders of bryozoans. The proposed research will clarify our understanding of an important group of extinct invertebrates, and will produce a more consistent and objective basis on which more theoretical studies of evolution and extinction can rest. The proposed methods will break new ground, and will set a new standard for systematic and evolutionary studies of fossil bryozoans.