This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. Most information about extinct animals comes exclusively from their bones. Researchers often specialize, focusing on one part of the skeleton, for example, the skulls, teeth, or feet. However, bones neither develop nor function independently, and studying them in isolation may hide important information about underlying genetic, developmental, or functional processes that affect multiple bones at once a process called integration. Bones that are tightly integrated with others are more resistant to change (evolution) than those that are not, meaning they may reveal very different aspects of an animal's behavior and/or its evolutionary past. Knowing how integration works is therefore essential to interpreting the fossil record. Integration will be investigated by comparing the skeletons of marsupial and non-marsupial (placental) mammals who are not related but who are similar in behavior and appearance. This includes gliders (sugar gliders and flying squirrels), burrowers (wombats and ground hogs), swimmers (yapoks and otters) and leapers (quokkas and jerboas). Comparing the entire skeleton of these species can show whether similarities likely arise from the same genetic and developmental machinery or whether skeletons change in different ways to produce the same effect. Three-dimensional scans and high resolution photographs will further reveal which parts of the mammalian skeleton best reflect behavior (ex. movement, diet) and which best show genetic relationships across species. Over 6,500 bone scans will be created and shared publicly. These will help preserve fragile museum specimens, can be 3D printed, provide teaching and training material to others, and will be incorporated into community programs and high school workshops operated by the fellow and her mentees.
This project investigates how intrinsic constraints express as adult covariation by comparing skeletal-wide integration patterns between functionally convergent species and derived outgroups. Research foci are two-fold. The first assesses the universality of therian skeletal-wide integration patterns, with the null expectation that they are the same for all taxa. The second focuses on whether within-skeleton integration patterns appear functionally or phylogenetically structured, with the null expectation that they do not. This project advances evolutionary theory by showing how intrinsic constraints limit the paths by which specialist morphologies arise. It will further show the value of taxonomic inferences made from differentially fragmented fossils and which trait combinations best reflect phylogeny and which behavior. The fellow will receive training in 3D data collection and processing, geomorphometric analyses, evolutionary modeling, and quantitative genetics. She will also develop a workshop in 3D morphometrics, present at scientific meetings, produce multiple publications, and mentor student researchers.
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.
