DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Endocranial capacity and extinction risk in mammals

论文研究：哺乳动物的颅内容量和灭绝风险

• 批准号: 1110332
• 负责人: Rodolfo Dirzo
• 金额: $ 1.4万
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-05-01 至 2013-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1110332&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Endocranial; capacity; extinction

Of the nearly 5,400 mammalian species alive today, a quarter of them are currently at risk of extinction due to loss of habitat, overexploitation, climate change and other human disturbances. Species not considered to be at risk of extinction are regularly added to the list of threatened species. Identifying species of greater conservation concern before their populations become critically threatened may be more effective and less expensive for protecting mammalian diversity than targeting species already known to have suffered population declines. In the fossil record, species of mammals that have gone extinct had significantly smaller relative brain sizes, (the size of the brain relative to body size), than species that are still alive today. Further, carnivore species listed currently as endangered have significantly smaller relative brain sizes as compared to carnivore species that are not threatened with extinction. Based on this preliminary data, this research project will examine more broadly the relationship between relative brain size and conservation status in order to test the hypothesis that species with larger relative brain sizes may be more successful in the face of environmental change, and thus more resistant to extinction. This project is unique in that it examines both modern mammalian species, using a more comprehensive methodology than has been employed to date, as well as mammalian species over the last 30 million years. A goal of this research project is to produce tools that scientists, governments and conservation organizations can use to identify species that may be extinction-prone. By providing an inexpensive and readily deployable metric for proactively identifying species of concern, and guiding action to stem species loss, this work could provide important insights for conservation science and policy. This research will be disseminated through publications, conference presentations and continued communication with non-governmental organizations. Additionally, the substantial dataset that results from this work will be made available to other researchers and state and federal agencies. This research project will involved high school and undergraduate students in research methods and analysis, and supports the doctoral research of a graduate student.

在今天存活的近5，400种哺乳动物中，有四分之一目前由于栖息地丧失、过度开发、气候变化和其他人为干扰而面临灭绝的危险。 不被认为有灭绝危险的物种经常被列入受威胁物种名单。 在其种群受到严重威胁之前确定具有更大保护关注的物种，对于保护哺乳动物多样性来说，可能比针对已知已遭受种群下降的物种更有效，成本更低。 在化石记录中，已经灭绝的哺乳动物物种的相对大脑大小（大脑相对于身体大小的大小）明显小于今天仍然活着的物种。 此外，目前列为濒危的食肉动物物种与没有灭绝威胁的食肉动物物种相比，相对大脑尺寸要小得多。 基于这些初步数据，该研究项目将更广泛地研究相对大脑大小和保护状况之间的关系，以检验相对大脑大小较大的物种在面对环境变化时可能更成功，从而更能抵抗灭绝的假设。 该项目的独特之处在于，它使用比迄今为止更全面的方法研究了现代哺乳动物物种，以及过去3000万年的哺乳动物物种。该研究项目的一个目标是开发科学家、政府和保护组织可以用来识别可能有灭绝倾向的物种的工具。 通过提供一种廉价且易于部署的指标，用于主动识别受关注的物种，并指导阻止物种损失的行动，这项工作可以为保护科学和政策提供重要的见解。 这项研究将通过出版物、会议介绍和与非政府组织的持续交流加以传播。 此外，这项工作产生的大量数据集将提供给其他研究人员以及州和联邦机构。 这个研究项目将涉及高中和本科生的研究方法和分析，并支持研究生的博士研究。