EVOLUTION OF THE AUDITORY COMPLEX OF MYSTICETI (CETACEA): PHYLOGENETIC AND MORPHOLIGIC EVIDENCE FROM TOOTHED, EDENTULOUS ?CETOTHERE?, AND EXTANT BALEEN WHALES

该项目将利用最先进的技术，包括高分辨率CT图像，通过详细的解剖比较，重建跨越3400万年地球历史的须鲸（神秘目）之间的进化关系。表型焦点是与低频听力相关的解剖学。目前还不清楚灭绝的物种是否和它们的后代一样对低频声音敏感。一些化石神秘动物的耳朵形态与现存的鲸鱼相似，但是在神秘动物的系统发育过程中，与听觉生理学相关的形态何时或多少次进化的假设仍未得到解决，将使用系统发育比较方法进行研究。这项研究所产生的新的形态描述和分析将为与听觉感知有关的解剖结构提供重要的新信息，也将使人们更加了解人类活动对活鲸的影响。此外，这些数据将通过向加州教育工作者提供在课堂上使用的新数据，为公立学校新开发的科学课程奠定基础。

This project will reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among baleen whales (mysticetes) spanning 34 million years of Earth History through detailed anatomical comparisons using state of the art technologies, including high resolution CT images. The phenotypic focus is anatomy associated with low frequency hearing. It is unknown if extinct species were as sensitive to low frequency sounds as are their living descendants. Some fossil mysticetes share ear morphology similar to living whales, but hypotheses of when or how many times morphologies associated with auditory physiology evolved throughout mysticete phylogeny remain unresolved and will be studied using phylogenetic comparative methods. The novel morphologic descriptions and analyses produced by the research will add important new information concerning the anatomical structures involved with hearing perception, and it will also lead to an increased comprehension of the effect of human activities on living whales. In addition, the data will form a foundation for newly developed science curricula for public schools through provision of novel data to California educators for use in the classroom.