Session 3B: Holocene Rodent Evolution in the Nullarbor Plain of Australia
Session Number
Session 3B: 1st Presentation
Advisor(s)
Kenneth Angielczyk, Field Museum
Location
Room A149
Start Date
28-4-2017 1:15 PM
End Date
28-4-2017 2:30 PM
Abstract
The Nullarbor Plain of Southern Australia hosts a number of caves that preserves small mammal fossils that originally accumulated through the activities of owls. The goal of this study is to use this unique fossil record to examine how rodent species responded to environmental changes over the past 20,000 years. We used geometric morphometrics to quantify mandible shape in four rodent species Notomys mitchelli, Pseudomys bolami, Leporillus conditor, and Pseudomy australis evolution across the Nullarbor Plain of southern Australia. A comparison of the jaw shapes will be made of the species over time and across the Nullarbor Plain to determine how shape varies with different enviromental conditions. This work has important implications for conservation activities and may allow predictions of how rodent species will respond to ongoing anthropogeneic climate change.
Session 3B: Holocene Rodent Evolution in the Nullarbor Plain of Australia
Room A149
The Nullarbor Plain of Southern Australia hosts a number of caves that preserves small mammal fossils that originally accumulated through the activities of owls. The goal of this study is to use this unique fossil record to examine how rodent species responded to environmental changes over the past 20,000 years. We used geometric morphometrics to quantify mandible shape in four rodent species Notomys mitchelli, Pseudomys bolami, Leporillus conditor, and Pseudomy australis evolution across the Nullarbor Plain of southern Australia. A comparison of the jaw shapes will be made of the species over time and across the Nullarbor Plain to determine how shape varies with different enviromental conditions. This work has important implications for conservation activities and may allow predictions of how rodent species will respond to ongoing anthropogeneic climate change.