A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials

该项目旨在提供可推广到几乎所有其他生物体的高精度进化推理方法。它的目的是研究动物多样性的进化，并以有袋类哺乳动物为例来校准进化时间表，并区分支配动物适应和多样化能力的内部和外部因素。该项目将整理一个大型的、开源的、正在进化的有袋类骨骼的三维目录，这可能会提供一个关于澳大利亚有袋类动物进化的过去和未来适应性的详细和公开的叙述。拟议制定的量化过去和现在生物多样性危机(例如环境变化)影响的方法预计将为较长期的保护规划提供信息。

This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalogue of the evolving marsupial skeleton, which could provide a detailed and publicly accessible narrative of the evolutionary past and future adaptability of Australian marsupials. The proposed development of methods to quantify the effect of past and present biodiversity crises (e.g. environmental change) is expected to inform longer-term conservation planning.