COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Triassic-Jurassic Fossils and the Origin of the Crocodilian Skull

鳄鱼及其近亲拥有来自过去2.5亿年的特殊化石记录，记录了它们许多专门化的起源。在这里，PI首次使用生物力学分析与对鳄鱼进化关系的研究相结合的方式，研究了独特的闭嘴系统的起源，这种系统使鳄鱼拥有所有脊椎动物中最强的咬合力。PI还将研究头骨空间的大小与三叠纪末期全球气温急剧上升和大气氧气减少的关系。这项研究试图确定咬合力增加的特征的起源是否与头骨中空间的增加有关，或者现代鳄鱼的这两种标志性适应是独立进化的。鳄鱼是极具魅力的动物，非常适合教育推广，该项目将利用史密森？S国家自然历史博物馆的Qrius学习中心和密苏里大学的Inside恐龙计划作为平台，为公众的科学素养和公众参与科学做出贡献。PI和他们的学生将进行公开演示，并根据项目CT扫描打印的3D头骨开发互动体验。与中国研究人员的合作将加强国际合作。

Crocodilians and their closest relatives have an exceptional fossil record from the last 250 million years, documenting the origins of their many specializations. Here the PIs investigate for the first time the origins of the unique jaw-closing system that allows crocodilians to have the strongest bite force of any vertebrate, using biomechanical analyses integrated with a study of their evolutionary relationships. The PIs will also study how the size of air spaces in the skull relates to a dramatic increase in global temperatures and decrease in atmospheric oxygen at the end of the Triassic Period. The study seeks to determine whether the origin of features increasing bite force were related to the increase in air spaces in the skull, or whether these two signature adaptations of modern crocodilians evolved independently. Crocodilians are charismatic animals that lend themselves well to educational outreach, and this project will utilize the Smithsonian?s National Museum of Natural History's Q'rius learning center and University of Missouri's Inside Dinosaurs program as platforms to contribute to public scientific literacy and public engagement with science. The PIs and their students will engage in public presentations and develop interactive experiences based on 3D skulls printed from project CT scans. Collaboration with researchers in China will strengthen international collaboration.