DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The phylogeny of basal coelurosaurian theropods and large-scale patterns of morphological evolution during the dinosaur-bird transition

鸟类是从兽脚类恐龙进化而来的，这是生命史上的主要进化转变之一。由于早期鸟类及其最近的恐龙近亲(腔龙兽脚类)的化石记录迅速扩大，这种转变已经成为理解主要群体、新的身体计划和新行为的教科书范例。然而，一些悬而未决的问题仍然存在，最显著的是关于鸟类及其近亲的系统发育，以及兽脚类-鸟类过渡期间形态进化的主要宏观进化模式。该项目旨在通过整合新的数据收集、系统发育分析和定量进化建模技术来解决这两个问题。一个大型的解剖学数据集将被用来得出一个完整的中生代腔尾龙物种水平的系统发育，并测量两个主要的宏观进化指标--特征变化率和解剖差异(形态特征的多样性)--在兽脚类到鸟类的转变过程中。这个项目将导致更好地理解食肉恐龙和鸟类之间的进化转变，这是化石记录中详细记录的为数不多的主要转变之一。该项目将帮助培训高中生，作为美国自然历史博物馆学生研究指导计划的一部分，涉及本科生开始他们的科学研究生涯的合作，并将被纳入公共讲座、在线数据仓库，以及即将出版的一本针对本科生和研究生的书。

The evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs is one of the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life. This transition has emerged as a textbook example for understanding the origins of major groups, new body plans, and novel behaviors, thanks to a rapidly expanding fossil record of early birds and their closest dinosaurian relatives (the coelurosaurian theropods). Several outstanding questions remain, however, most notably regarding the phylogeny of birds and their closest relatives and the major macroevolutionary patterns in morphological evolution during the theropod-bird transition. This project aims to tackle both of these issues by integrating new data collection, phylogenetic analyses, and quantitative evolutionary modeling techniques. A large anatomical dataset will be used to derive a complete species-level phylogeny of Mesozoic coelurosaurs and to measure two major macroevolutionary metrics--rates of character change and anatomical disparity (variety in morphological features)--during the theropod-bird transition.This project will result in better understanding of the evolutionary transition between carnivorous dinosaurs and birds, which is one of the few major transitions that is recorded in fine detail in the fossil record. This project will help train high school students as part of the American Museum of Natural History's Student Research Mentoring Program, involve the collaboration of undergraduate students beginning their careers in scientific research, and will be incorporated into public lectures, online data repositories, and a forthcoming book aimed at undergraduate and graduate students.