Morphological Diversity of Paleozoic Pelmatozoan Echinoderms

有人提出了几个有趣的假设， 形态多样性的大规模时间模式 分支的历史，特别是那些起源于早期的分支， 古生代的。 然而，对进化假说的检验 关于多样性，要么使用分类多样性作为 代表形态多样性，或专注于模式， 规模相对较小。 拟议的研究将调查 大分支中形态多样性的时间模式 古生代棘皮动物，海百合纲，以及较小的 进化枝 具体而言，将确定是否 形态多样性集中在历史的早期， 进化枝，以及是否存在时间上的差异 形态和分类多样性之间的联系 形态 多样性将直接测量，使用相异性措施 基于离散字符数据。 这些数据将被收集 从已发表的物种描述以及博物馆标本中。 用于量化形态的方法将允许直接 在更广泛的范围内记录形态多样性模式 比迄今为止所实行的分类规模，将 因此提供了与重大问题有关的重要新数据， 对进化生物学很感兴趣

Several intriguing hypotheses have been proposed regarding large-scale temporal patterns of morphological diversity in the history of clades, particularly those originating in the early Paleozoic. However, the testing of evolutionary hypotheses regarding diversity has either used taxonomic diversity as a proxy for morphological diversity, or focused on patterns at relatively small scales. The proposed research will investigate temporal patterns of morphological diversity in large clades of Paleozoic echinoderms, Class Crinoidea, as well as in smaller clades. Specifically, it will be determined whether morphological diversity is concentrated early in the history of a clade, and whether there are temporally directed differences between morphological and taxonomic diversity. Morphological diversity will be measured directly, using dissimilarity measures based on discrete-character data. These data will be collected from published species descriptions as well as museum specimens. The approach adopted for quantifying morphology will allow direct documentation of morphological diversity patterns at a broader taxonomic scale than has heretofore been practiced, and will therefore provide important new data relevant to major questions of interest in evolutionary biology.