Dr. Emlet, working at the University of Southern California, will address the question of how development and natural selection interact during evolution. He plans to create the first integrated developmental and evolutionary model for a marine organism, which could provide insights into why some organisms have diversified while others have not, as well as how environmental changes effect short and long term changes in organisms. Using a sea urchin species as a model organism and techniques he developed to infer mode of larval development in fossil urchins, Dr. Emlet will determine if the places and times that a particular type of larval feeding evolved correspond with environmental conditions that are expected to select for this type of development. He will also analyze the functional consequences of changes in shape and patterns of larval ciliation on swimming performance. This experimental work will be the first to determine quantitatively the functional requirements for developmental processes which are modified during evolutionary changes in mode of development. Combining historical and functional approaches may show how and when natural selection acts through environmental change or functional morphological requirements to control developmental patterns. Historical analyses may also show whether developmental patterns influence evolutionary success, measured as diversification rate.
