US-Mexico Cooperative Research: Global Paleobiogeographic Implications from a Regional Study

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0003058FeldmannThis US-Mexico award will fund a collaborative project between Dr. Rodney M. Feldmann, Kent State University, Ohio, in collaboration with Dr. Francisco J. Vega, National Autonomous University of Mexico. The researchers aim to study the Cenozoic paleographic history of Mexico and to consider the implications of this history for the evolution and geographic dispersal of fossil decapod crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, and lobsters) and molluscs. The areas to be studied, in the states of Chiapas and Baja California Sur, lie within the southern and Central American region that served both as a barrier to, and an avenue for, dispersal of marine organisms during the Tertiary, and therefore represent a crucial link in the paleobiogeographic story of decapods. The dispersal routes of these organisms are most likely to have crossed Mexico and Central America; however, the fossil record from this region is currently not adequate to test this hypothesis. It is anticipated that the proposed field research will make it possible to resolve and describe the routes of dispersal of decapods, compare those patterns with the patterns of dispersal of molluscs, and provide a basis for evaluating general statements about dispersal histories of other groups of marine organisms.