Paleontology: Developmental Analysis of a Speciation Event in the Fossil Record Using the New Geometric Morphometric Methods

本研究将利用地质、古生物、进化和发育数据来解决关于发育进化和物种形成的几个基本问题，从而确立无脊椎动物古生物学在进化发育综合中的作用：1)个体发育（生长）在物种形成之前、期间和之后是如何进化的？2)个体发生模式和微观结构组成在物种内部和物种之间有何不同？3)个体发育过程中形态和微观结构特征的整合如何制约物种形成过程中潜在变化的方向？4)哪些古生态、沉积学和生物学变量影响了这个谱系中物种形成的持续时间、方向和速度？这些问题将使用一种新的形态分析技术（几何形态分析）来解决，这种技术被许多人认为是形态学和发育分析的革命性进步。尽管这项技术在许多其他的进化研究领域取得了成功，但它还没有被无脊椎古生物学家广泛使用。利用一种新的形态计量学方法通过化石记录中的物种形成来研究发展的进化，为无脊椎古生物学提供了一个为进化发育生物学做出独特贡献的机会，并展示了几何形态计量学分析在古生物学研究中的力量。

9901484NehmThe research will establish a role for invertebrate paleontology in the evolutionary developmental synthesis by employing geological, paleontological, evolutionary, and developmental data to address several fundamental questions about developmental evolution and speciation: 1) How does ontogeny (growth) evolve before, during, and after speciation? 2) How do ontogenetic patterns and microstructural composition differ within and between species? 3) How does the integration of morphological and microstructural features during ontogeny constrain the direction of potential change during speciation? 4) What paleoecological, sedimentalogical, and biological variables contribute to the duration, direction, and tempo of speciation in this lineage? These questions will be addresses using a new morphmetric analysis technique (geometric morphometric analysis) that is considered by many to be a revolutionary advance in morphological and developmental analysis. This technique has yet to be used extensively by invertebrate paleontologists, despite its success in many other fields of evolutionary inquiry. Investigating the evolution of development through speciation in the fossil record using a new morphometric approach provides an opportunity for invertebrate paleontology to contribute uniquely to evolutionary developmental biology and demonstrate the power of geometric morphometric analysis in paleontological research.