Using novel modelling approaches to investigate the evolution of symmetry in early animals.

对称性是起源于5亿多年前的主要动物身体计划的基本属性。确定为什么不同类型的对称性进化是困难的，因为大多数现代群体的特征只有一种。然而，化石记录显示，棘皮动物-现代海洋动物的一个主要群体-包括具有不同类型对称性的灭绝形式。研究这一群体中对称性的进化有助于更广泛地揭示对称性在动物中的进化意义。为了实现这一目标，虚拟建模和计算流体动力学将用于分析关键化石分类群的性能，为具有不同类型对称性的形式的功能和生态提供信息。另一种主要的动物，海绵，有由包含许多不同对称类型的骨针组成的骨骼。目前还不知道为什么这些不同的形状演变。将构建现代和化石海绵物种的形态空间，并对其性能进行评估。将收集和询问古环境参数，以确定海绵骨针的对称状态演变的趋势是否是由发育、生态或环境驱动的。这些结果将改变我们对对称性进化历史的理解。

Symmetry is a fundamental property of the major animal body plans that originated over half a billion years ago. Determining why different types of symmetry evolved is difficult because most modern groups are characterized by only a single kind. However, the fossil record reveals that the echinoderms - a major group of modern marine animals - comprised extinct forms with different types of symmetry. Investigating the evolution of symmetry in this group could help uncover the evolutionary significance of symmetry in animals more broadly. To achieve this, virtual modelling and computational fluid dynamics will be used to analyse performance of key fossil taxa, informing on the function and ecology of forms with different types of symmetry. Another major group of animals, sponges, have skeletons made up of spicules which contain many different symmetry types. It is not known why these various shapes evolved. Morphospaces of modern and fossil sponge species will be constructed and their performance evaluated. Palaeoenvironmental parameters will be assembled and interrogated to determine whether trends in symmetry state evolution of sponge spicules were driven by phylogeny, ecology or the environment. The results will transform our understanding of the evolutionary history of symmetry.