RPG: Comparative Physiology of Bivalves and Brachiopods: Evidence for Evolution and Escalation?

9405300 Rhodes Pi将与英国南极调查局成员合作，调查现存的极地腕足动物物种Liothyrella UVA的能源需求，并将其与同域双壳物种进行比较。这项工作将导致对来自温带和热带水域的物种进行更大规模的比较研究。这项研究旨在验证这样一种假设，即从化石记录推断出的生物多样性的大规模变化和栖息地的转移，主要是由个体层面的生物相互作用塑造的，这是一个激烈辩论的话题。相互竞争的假设是，在生命历史上发现的大规模模式中，大部分是机会和环境变化造成的。

9405300 Rhodes PI will investigate, in collaboration with members of the British Antarctic Survey, the energy needs of the living polar brachiopod species, Liothyrella uva, and compare it to a sympatric bivalve species. This work will lead to a larger-scale comparative study of species from temperate and tropical waters. The study is intended to test the hypothesis that large-scale changes in diversity and shifts in habitat, inferred from the fossil record, have been shaped primarily by individual-level biological interactions, a hotly debated topic. Competing hypotheses are that chance and environmental changes account for most of the large- scale patterns found during the history of life.