CAREER: Significance of Cenozoic climate and environmental changes on the ecology and evolution of marsupials in Australia: A multi-proxy approach

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New Title:CAREER: Significance of climate and environmental changes on the ecology and evolution of marsupials in Australia: evidence from the analysis of fossil teeth over deep-timeNon-technical abstract:Assessing how mammals have responded to past climate and environmental change can help clarify how living mammals may respond to current climate change. As Australia is projected to experience more extreme drought and intense precipitation events and extreme temperature increases by 2050, it is critical to assess the effects of climate change and habitat modification on living and fossil mammals. Throughout deep-time, landscapes in Australia have change from primarily moist forests to more temperate and drier regions. Increased aridity likely had profound impacts on the evolution and extinction of marsupial mammals; however, critical work is needed to better understand the ecology of marsupial mammals both today and in the past. Using an integrative approach that combines data resulting from a diversity of analytical methods, these data can clarify long-term responses to climate change and reveal potential reasons as to why many mammals went extinct. This research will be integrated with educational activities, including the involvement of graduate, undergraduate, and high school students (including gender and/or ethnic minorities, with involvement of student from the Tennessee School for the Blind). Through a combination of student research experiences that include conducting primary research and digital outreach products, formal mentoring, and a diversity of educational outreach programs, this CAREER research will be broadly disseminated to both local and global audiences.Technical abstract:The primary goal of this CAREER research is to clarify the ecology and biology of marsupial mammals in Australia during the Cenozoic to: (1) assess changes in environmental and climatic conditions, including potential declines in forested environments; and (2) clarify how mammals have responded to climate change, including increased aridity since the Miocene and more pronounced aridification since ~350 thousand years ago. Through the integration of stable isotope analyses of fossil tooth enamel, 3D dental microwear texture analysis, dental mesowear analysis, and morphological analysis, the paleoecology and paleobiology of numerous herbivorous and carnivorous mammals can be used to test a multitude of hypotheses regarding the evolution and extinction of marsupial mammals in Australia - including clarifying long-term responses to climate change. The integration of long-term paleontological evidence with modern ecological studies of extant macropodid responses to recent drought events, can synergistically clarify biotic responses to aridification. The research will be integrated with all proposed educational activities, including: 1) conducting primary research projects as part of undergraduate and graduate coursework; 2) mentor high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in both primary research and educational outreach activities; 3) work with the Tennessee School for the Blind to conduct primary mesowear research and engage in educational outreach, 4) encourage females and/or underrepresented minorities to consider STEM careers via participation in both the Girls and Science Camp at Vanderbilt University and TWISTER at the Adventure Science Center, and 5) increase scientific literacy and visibility of research activities and outcomes through the development of docent carts and training at the Nashville Zoo and through public outreach events at local venues.