Island Biogeography in Deep Time: The Assembly and Demise of a Uniquely Insular Eocene Mammal Fauna

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This project studies a newly discovered Eocene (44 million-years-old) vertebrate fossil deposit from the former island of Balkanatolia (modern Turkey and adjacent areas). Fossil mammals will be studied to investigate the factors that influence the composition of island assemblages across geological timescales in the region. The project supports deep collaboration and unique training opportunities for faculty and students from the USA, Turkey (a longstanding member of NATO and a key strategic partner in the Middle East) and France. Educational outreach activities will include two new museum exhibits and popular entries on Turkish Eocene fossils posted on Wikipedia (in both English and Turkish). The fossil record of vertebrates from island contexts is heavily biased toward the Quaternary, severely limiting our ability to investigate insular faunal dynamics during deep time. Using both Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods, the phylogenetic relationships of the Eocene mammals of Balkanatolia will be reconstructed. Phylogenetic, biogeographic and biostratigraphic relationships of these mammals will facilitate an evaluation of the significance of dispersal, vicariance, and in situ diversification as drivers of biotic assembly and whether these processes conform with prevailing models of island biogeography. Geochemical proxies will be employed to reconstruct the evolving environment of Balkanatolia during the Eocene, which is necessary to gauge whether changes in the physical or biotic environment instigated the demise of its insular mammal fauna. Modern islands host a disproportionate fraction of the planet’s biodiversity, yet these insular biotas are vulnerable to invasive taxa and other anthropogenic agents. This project will illuminate the drivers of biotic turnover in a world free of anthropogenic influences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.