NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: The first actinopterygian ‘adaptive radiation’: integrating fossils, function and phylogeny to illuminate innovation in a post-extinction w

古代的大灭绝导致了许多物种的消失，但也为幸存的群体提供了新的机会。对这些事件的研究对于理解当今生物多样性的起源以及环境变化所带来的威胁至关重要。这项工作的重点是发生在大约3.6亿年前的危机和恢复的主要间隔：泥盆纪/石炭纪灭绝。这项研究将确定这一事件对鳐鱼早期历史的影响，鳐鱼是当今水生生态系统的关键组成部分，也是一种主要的商业资源。该项目将提供高中、本科、研究生和研究生水平的培训，并为广大受众编写教材，包括那些在STEM领域代表性不足的人。外展活动包括为密歇根大学的高中生开设的一个模块，在三个每年总参观人数超过50万的博物馆开设的项目，以及为当地社区提供的资源。这项工作将研究泥盆纪/石炭纪灭绝（359 Ma）在促使放光翼动物多样性明显爆发中的作用，为放光翼动物在显生宙其余时间的统治地位奠定基础。该项目将结合微ct、功能解剖学、3D形态计量学、综合证据系统发育推断以及泥盆纪和石炭纪（419-299 Ma）放光翼鸟的进化比较方法。项目团队将：(i)量化下颌骨的离散功能创新、生物力学和形状，以测试在大规模灭绝后增加的功能和形态多样性；（ii）在贝叶斯框架中整合解剖学、地层学和分子数据，建立早期放光翼类关系的包容性假设，并检验关于进化分歧时间和跨越灭绝边界的生存模式的假设；（iii）在比较框架内将功能和形态数据与新的系统发育假设结合起来，以测试与泥盆纪/石炭纪灭绝相关的放光翼动物的进化速度和模式的变化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ancient mass extinctions resulted in the loss of many species but also provided new opportunities for surviving groups. Study of these events is central to both understanding the origin of today’s biological diversity as well as contextualizing the threats it faces from environmental change. This work focuses on a major interval of crisis and recovery that took place around 360 million years ago: the Devonian/Carboniferous extinction. This study will determine the impact of this event on the early history of ray-finned fishes, key components of today’s aquatic ecosystems and a major commercial resource. The project will provide training at high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, and develop educational materials for wide audiences, including those underrepresented in STEM fields. Outreach includes a module for high-school students at the University of Michigan, programs at three museums with a combined annual attendance of greater than 500,000, and resources for use in local communities. This work will examine the role of the Devonian/Carboniferous extinction (359 Ma) in precipitating an apparent explosion of diversity among actinopterygians, setting the stage for the group’s dominance throughout the remainder of the Phanerozoic. The project will combine microCT, functional anatomy, 3D morphometrics, combined-evidence phylogenetic inference, and evolutionary comparative methods to Devonian and Carboniferous (419-299 Ma) actinopterygians. The project team will: (i) quantify discrete functional innovations, biomechanics, and shape for mandibles to test for increased functional and morphological diversity following a mass extinction; (ii) integrate anatomical, stratigraphic, and molecular data in a Bayesian framework to develop an inclusive hypothesis of early actinopterygian relationships and test hypotheses about the timing of evolutionary divergences and patterns of survival across the extinction boundary; and (iii) combine functional and morphological data with new phylogenetic hypotheses within a comparative framework in to test for shifts in evolutionary rate and mode among actinopterygians associated with the Devonian/Carboniferous extinction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.