This Dissertation Enhancement Award will fund Stephen DeVogel's dissertation research on the extinction of the elephant bird, a large, flightless bird endemic to Madagascar. He will collaborate with Dr. Chantal Radimilahy, Director of the University Museum in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Elephant bird eggs were very large (in excess of 30 x 20 cm, and nearly 4 mm thick) and fragments of the eggshells are abundant in many localities. DeVogel will study these fragments to try to pinpoint the time of extinction and to distinguish between climate change, direct overhunting, or anthropogenic ecosystem change as possible causal factors in the extinction. He will use radiocarbon dating and amino acid racemization to date samples. He will determine the isotopic composition of the dated samples in order to test hypotheses about potential changes in diet and moisture consumption and their association with the extinction event.
This grant will provide an opportunity for a U.S. graduate student to conduct international research on a timely topic, human impacts on extinction. The project will also strengthen collaborative research ties between U.S. and Malagasy scientists and contribute to the training of a young Malagasy scientist.
