COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTEGRATING FOSSIL AND MODERN EVIDENCE TO DETERMINE THE ROLE OF DIET IN MAMMALIAN DIVERSIFICATION

哺乳动物进化出了多样化的饮食，以满足它们苛刻的新陈代谢。这项研究将结合化石记录和现存哺乳动物的数据，研究饮食在哺乳动物多样性中所起的作用。工作将集中在三个化石记录良好和饮食多变的类别：灵长类、食肉动物(例如狗、猫和熊)和鲸目动物(例如鹿、牛和鲸鱼)。形态数据和DNA数据的结合将被用来产生包括化石和活物种在内的每一组的时间校准的系统发育图。然后，将用饮食数据分析这些系统发育树，以估计不同饮食的哺乳动物的物种形成和灭绝率。这些结果将与传统的古生物学方法进行比较，以量化这些不同方法在重建多样性历史中的偏差。这项关于哺乳动物饮食进化的研究将阐明饮食在包括人类在内的现存哺乳动物的起源中所起的进化作用，以及我们祖先的杂食性动物的进化轨迹是否与其他灵长类动物的起源相似。它还将有助于宏观进化生物学的古生物学和系统发生学方法之间的一致性，促进跨学科合作。该项目将支持本科生和研究生的培训以及K-16教育材料的开发。

Mammals have evolved diverse diets to fuel their demanding metabolisms. This study will investigate the role diet played in mammalian diversification by combining data from the fossil record with data on living mammals. Work will focus on three groups with good fossil records and variable diets: Primates, Carnivora (e.g. dogs, cats and bears), and Cetartiodactyla (e.g. deer, cows and whales). A combination of morphological and DNA data will be used to produce a time-calibrated phylogeny of each group that includes fossil and living species. These phylogenetic trees will then be analyzed with dietary data to estimate speciation and extinction rates in mammals with different diets. The results will be compared to traditional paleontological methods to quantify the biases of these different approaches in reconstructing diversification history.This study of mammalian dietary evolution will elucidate the evolutionary role diet played in the origin of living mammals, including humans, and whether the evolutionary trajectory of omnivory in our ancestors paralleled its origin in other primates. It will also contribute to consilience between paleontological and phylogenetic approaches to macroevolutionary biology, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration. The project will support training of undergraduate and graduate students along with the development of K-16 educational materials.