Evolutionary Palaeoecology of End-Cretaceous Fossil Vertebrates

北美的白垩纪晚期（约8.566亿年前）见证了恐龙和其他脊椎动物（有脊骨的动物）多样性的爆发，随后一些种群的减少导致了白垩纪末期非鸟类恐龙的大灭绝。生物过程，如生态位划分（差异资源利用），以及环境过程，如海平面和气候变化，都是解释这种生物多样性上升和随后下降的因素。我的研究从三个方面解决了这些重要问题：(1)化石物种的鉴定及其进化关系；(2)化石物种在时间和空间背景下的位置；(3)研究过去对化石群落结构和进化的影响。我的研究本质上是合作的，涉及到来自世界各地的专家。它还为加拿大学生提供了在阿尔伯塔省经典荒地进行实地考察的机会，并在生态学和进化学科方面取得了创新进展。我的研究项目对当今紧迫的保护问题具有重要意义，特别是那些关于物种长期共存以及气候和海平面变化对生物多样性的影响的问题，这些问题关系到加拿大和整个世界。

The Late Cretaceous period of North America (~8566 million years ago) witnessed an explosion in the diversity of dinosaurs and other vertebrates (animals with backbones), followed by a decline in some groups leading up to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that killed the non-avian dinosaurs. Biological processes, like niche partitioning (differential resource use), and environmental processes, like sea level and climate change, are among the factors that have been invoked to account for the rise and subsequent fall of this biodiversity. My research addresses these important issues using a threefold approach: (1) The identification of fossil species and their evolutionary relationships, (2) The placement of fossil species in the context of time and space, and (3) The study of past influences on fossil community structure and evolution. My research is collaborative in nature, and involves experts from throughout the world. It also presents Canadian students with the opportunity to do fieldwork in the classic badlands of Alberta, and to make innovative advancements in the disciplines of ecology and evolution. My research program has important implications for pressing conservation issues today, particularly those regarding long-term species coexistence and the effects of climate and sea-level change on biodiversity, which concern Canadians and the world at large.