A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials

该项目旨在提供可扩展到几乎所有其他生物的进化推理的高精度方法。它旨在研究动物多样性的进化，并以有袋类哺乳动物为例校准进化时间尺度，并区分控制动物适应和多样化能力的内部和外部因素。该项目将整理一个大型的、开源的有袋动物骨骼进化三维目录，这可以提供一个详细的、公开的关于澳大利亚有袋动物进化过去和未来适应性的叙述。拟议制定方法，量化过去和现在的生物多样性危机（如环境变化）的影响，预计将告知长期保护规划。

This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalogue of the evolving marsupial skeleton, which could provide a detailed and publicly accessible narrative of the evolutionary past and future adaptability of Australian marsupials. The proposed development of methods to quantify the effect of past and present biodiversity crises (e.g. environmental change) is expected to inform longer-term conservation planning.