Collaborative Research: The Late Devonian Tetrapodomorph Tiktaalik roseae

摘要项目名称：合作研究：晚泥盆世四足动物Tiktaalik roseae PI：Edward B。Daeschler，脊椎动物学副馆长，费城自然科学院，1900年本杰明富兰克林百老汇，费城，宾夕法尼亚州19103 PI：尼尔H。作者声明：Robert R. Bensley杰出教授，有机生物学和解剖学系，1027东57街，芝加哥大学，芝加哥，IL 60637 Tiktaalik roseae是晚泥盆纪（3.85 - 3.62亿年前）的化石鱼，于2004年在加拿大努纳武特的埃尔斯米尔岛发现。本种是与四足动物（四肢脊椎动物）最密切相关的有鳍动物。作为中间型，T. roseae帮助我们认识到从鱼类到四足动物转变过程中形态变化的顺序，并可以告诉我们驱动这些重要进化变化的力量。T.蔷薇科植物在2006年首次被描述，引起了进化生物学家的极大兴趣。然而，迄今为止，关于该物种的唯一出版报告是《自然》杂志上的简短论文。随着对大量保存完好的T. roseae，我们将填补这个重要的化石在鱼到四足动物过渡的尖端进行详细调查的需要。这项研究的主要贡献将是一个详细的出版物上的广泛的主题T。蔷薇。本出版物的核心将是一个彻底的形态描述，包括50多个标本中许多标本的广泛数字。我们还将首次研究鳍中骨骼的内部结构，进一步记录T。roseae生存，并产生了关于鱼类到四足动物过渡的进化树的新研究。该项目的另一个主要贡献将利用T. roseae化石来评估鳍和头骨的功能解剖。对鳍能够支撑身体这一假设的评估将涉及对关节结构以及骨、鳍条和前鳍与肩的鳞片之间可能的相对运动的详细分析。第二组分析将探讨头骨结构与头骨中与运动、呼吸和进食有关的不同应力和应变之间的关系。在本研究结束时，所有T.蔷薇科植物标本将归还给努纳武特政府，因此通过印刷品和网站及时公布这些数据尤为重要。T.蔷薇亚科在国际上受到教育机构和媒体的广泛关注，作为教科书式的过渡化石，它已成为向公众传播进化论的有力工具。公共研究所有公开讲座和开发网上教育资源的记录。我们将利用这个研究项目，进一步向广大受众传达工作结果以及科学过程，从而帮助人们更好地掌握进化是如何工作的。

ABSTRACT Project Title: Collaborative Research: The Late Devonian Tetrapodomorph Tiktaalik roseae PI: Edward B. Daeschler, Associate Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103 PI: Neil H. Shubin, Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Professor, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, 1027 East 57th Street, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 Tiktaalik roseae is a fossil fish from the Late Devonian Period (385-362 million-years-ago) that was discovered in 2004 on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. This species is the finned animal that is most closely related to tetrapods (limbed vertebrates). As an intermediate form, T. roseae helps us to recognize the sequence of morphological changes across the fish-to-tetrapod transition and can teach us about the forces that were driving these important evolutionary changes. T. roseae was first described in 2006 and has provoked a great deal of interest among evolutionary biologists. To date, however, the only published reports on this species have been short papers in Nature. With continued study and documentation of the abundant and well-preserved material of T. roseae, we will fill the need for a detailed investigation of this important fossil at the cusp of the fish-to-tetrapod transition. A primary contribution of this research will be a detailed publication on a wide range of topics about T. roseae. The core of this publication will be a thorough morphological description including extensive figures of many of the 50+ specimens. We will also investigate the internal structure of bones in the fins for the first time, further document the ancient environment where T. roseae lived, and produce new studies of the evolutionary tree across the fish-to-tetrapod transition. The other major contribution of this project will take advantage of the quality of T. roseae fossils to assess the functional anatomy of the fins and skull. Evaluation of the hypothesis that the fins were capable of body support will involve detailed analysis of joint structure and the relative motions possible between bones, fin rays, and scales of the front fin and shoulder. The second set of analyses will explore the relationship between skull architecture and different stresses and strains in the skull related to movement, breathing and feeding. At the conclusion of this study, all T. roseae specimens are to be returned to the Government of Nunavut, and so the timely publication of these data via print and websites is of particular importance. The discovery and description of T. roseae has received considerable attention from educational organizations and media internationally; as a textbook transitional fossil it has become a powerful tool in the communication of evolution to the general public. The PIs have a record of public lectures and development of web-based educational resources. We will make use of this research project to further communicate the results of the work, as well as the scientific process, to a broad audience and thereby help people get a better grasp of how evolution works.