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.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 28th, 1:15 PM Apr 28th, 2:30 PM

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.