Macroevolutionary transitions at scales of ecological and phylogenetic change

提出的研究计划旨在研究古生态和解剖进化的宏观进化变化。虽然宏观进化被广泛认为是物种水平以上的进化，但拟议的研究计划将集中在生态和解剖学进化的多个尺度上，以努力弥合每个尺度下的变化单位。古生态层面的研究将考察诸如面积、气候和纬度等外部因素如何与加拿大和整个美洲中生代（2.5 - 6500万年前）不同时间尺度和空间尺度上陆地群落组成、地域分布和破碎性的变化相关联。解剖学进化研究将评估从鱼鳍到四足动物肢体、从恐龙臂到鸟类翅膀的阑尾（手臂和腿）骨骼转变的速度和模式，以及可能导致这些形态变化的发育机制。通过结合群落和谱系水平的研究，这些研究宏观进化变化的方法努力发现塑造宏观进化事件的力量，衍生出在多个时空尺度上整合宏观进化变化的新方法，并为研究生培养提供一个跨学科的环境。

The proposed research program seeks to examine macroevolutionary changes of palaeoecological and anatomical evolution. While macroevolution is broadly considered as evolution above the species level, the proposed research program will focus on multiples scales within ecological and anatomical evolution to work toward bridging the units of change underlying each scale. Research at the palaeoecological level will examine how external factors, such as area, climate and latitude, correlate with changing terrestrial community composition, provinciality, and fragmentation throughout different temporal scales throughout the Mesozoic Era (250 - 65 million years ago) and spatial scales within Canada and throughout the Americas. Research of anatomical evolution will estimate the tempo and mode of morphological transitions of the radical skeletal transformations of the appendiculum (arm and leg) across the fish fin to tetrapod limb and dinosaur arm to bird wing transitions and what developmental mechanisms may have been responsible for those morphological changes. By combining research at the community and lineage level, these approaches to macroevolutionary change strive to discover what forces shape macroevolutionary events, derive new methods to integrate macroevolutionary changes at their many temporal and spatial scales, and provide an interdisciplinary environment for graduate student training.