Changes in Earth's climate and physical environment have shaped the diversity of life by causing the extinction of species, the origin of new species, and evolutionary change in existing species. Over the past 55 million years, ungulate mammals from the Great Plains of North America (e.g., camels, horses, antelope) diversified in the face of substantial climatic changes and major ecosystem rearrangements, including the origin and spread of the North American prairie. These climatic and environmental changes are well established, and ungulates are abundantly preserved as fossils throughout this time interval. The objective of this project is to use the excellent fossil record of ungulates to detail the evolution of key traits within lineages, the origin and extinction of lineages, and how these processes altered the ecology of ungulate communities. Previous studies have addressed these topics in various plant and animal groups, but rarely have all three patterns been integrated in simultaneous analysis. These patterns will then be compared against the climatic and environmental changes in North America to directly test the strength their influence. It is generally expected that intervals of rapid climatic change will drive rapid evolution and ecological turnover among ungulates, but these patterns may differ, for example, between intervals of climatic warming versus cooling. Overall, this project will help us better understand how climate change shapes vertebrate evolution and communities in the modern world, and will give us an additional quantitative tools for studying past environments. The relatively simple methods of data collection will facilitate the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students, and will be leveraged to recruit and retain traditionally underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students in scientific research.
