The role of tectonics and environment on the distribution of dinosaur diversity

恐龙最早出现在大约2.3亿年前，并迅速在全球分布。然而，目前尚不清楚它们最初出现在地球上的什么地方，以及泛大陆的分裂对它们的多样性和分布有什么影响。确定泛古大陆分裂对生命分布的影响是生物地理学的中心目标之一，但激烈的争论和不确定性困扰着这个领域。为了定量地评估恐龙的进化和生物地理历史，我将推断出一个经过时间校准的群体进化关系的超级树，并将其与现有的恐龙化石出现的数据集一起使用。然后，我将应用一系列最先进的分析方法，包括采样标准化，网络分析，以及可能性（biogeobars）和贝叶斯（PyRate）方法。关于采样偏差（例如，缺乏适合保存恐龙的沉积岩的地区）和古地理/环境障碍和扩散过滤器（例如，来自过去大陆构造和古气候模型的已发表数据）的信息也将纳入分析，这些因素在以前的研究中基本上被忽略。这些分析将使我能够评估变异和分散在恐龙分布中的相对作用，包括测试一些进化枝是否可能经历了越洋扩散。

Dinosaurs first appeared approximately 230 million years ago and rapidly became globally distributed. However, it is currently unknown where on Earth they first appeared, and what effect the breakup of the super-continent Pangaea had on their diversity and distribution. Determining the impact of Pangaean fragmentation on the distribution of life is one of the central goals of biogeography, but fierce debate and uncertainty plagues this field. To quantitatively evaluate dinosaurian evolutionary and biogeographic history, I will infer a timecalibrated supertree of the group's evolutionary relationships and use this alongside an existing dataset of dinosaur fossil occurrences. I will then apply a series of state-of-the-art analytical methods, including sampling standardisation, network analysis, and Likelihood (BioGeoBEARS) and Bayesian (PyRate) approaches. Information on sampling biases (e.g. areas that lack suitable sedimentary rocks for preserving dinosaurs) and palaeogeographic/environmental barriers and filters to dispersal (e.g. published data from past continental configurations and palaeoclimatic models) will also be incorporated into analyses, factors that have largely been ignored in previous studies. These analyses will enable me to evaluate the relative roles of vicariance and dispersal on the distribution of dinosaurs through time, including testing whether some clades likely underwent transoceanic dispersal.