DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Testing Hypotheses of Evolutionary Trends in Brain and Body Size in the Caniformia (Mammalia, Carnivora)

在食肉目哺乳动物中，大脑和身体的大小高度相关，也与许多生活史特征和生态变量相关。虽然其中大多数很难或不可能在化石记录中观察到，但它们将为早期食肉动物的生物学提供宝贵的洞察。犬形亚群包括狗、熊、臭鼬、浣熊、黄鼠狼和其他近缘物种，拥有丰富的生物多样性、良好的化石记录和完善的进化关系。从化石记录中得出这些物种的身体和大脑大小数据，将可以解决关于进化趋势的两个假设。首先，产生现代大脑和身体大小分布的进化趋势的潜在动力是什么？第二，如果现代的身体大小分布是平行趋势的结果，那么大脑大小相对于身体大小是否存在进化控制，这种控制是否会随着时间的推移保持不变？这项研究将引起生物学家的普遍兴趣，因为它将为早期犬形物种的生态学和生物学提供洞察力。此外，如果发现了生物学上的制约因素，对大脑相对大小随时间变化的分析可能会对发育生物学的研究产生影响。此外，解释这些数据所需的数学和统计方法应广泛适用于生命科学的许多领域，特别是寻求将计数数据或异速生长参数化为参数的研究。

Brain and body size are highly correlated across the mammalian Order Carnivora, and are also correlated with many life history traits and ecological variables. While most of these are difficult or impossible to observe in the fossil record, they would provide valuable insight into the biology of early carnivorans. The subgroup Caniformia, which includes dogs, bears, skunks, raccoons, weasels, and other related species, possesses a large living diversity, a good fossil record, and well-resolved set of evolutionary relationships. Deriving body and brain size data from the fossil record for these species will allow two hypotheses of evolutionary trends to be addressed. First, what are the underlying dynamics of the evolutionary trends that produce the modern distribution of brain and body sizes? Second, if modern body size distributions are the result of parallel trends, is there an evolutionary control on brain size relative to body size, and has this remained constant through time?This investigation will be of general interest to biologists, as it will offer insight into the ecology and biology of early caniform species. In addition, if biological constraints are uncovered an analysis of changing relative brain size through time could have implications for the study of developmental biology. In addition, the mathematical and statistical methods necessary to interpret these data should be broadly applicable to many areas of the life sciences, especially studies seeking to parameterize count data or allometries.