DINOSAUR BIOGEOGRAPHY AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF FOSSIL RECORD BIAS
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Earth Sciences
Abstract
The non-marine formations of the upper Cretaceous of the western interior basin of North America are highly fossiliferous and contain the most extensively sampled vertebrate fossil assemblages. This abundance contextualised in a high-resolution stratigraphic framework has allowed the characterisation of distinct dinosaur faunas and the biostratigraphic distribution of dinosaur taxa. For studies focused on dinosaur biogeography, these biostratigraphic patterns are key to understanding the selective pressures influencing the spatial evolution of dinosaur taxa and faunal turnover in these dinosaur assemblages. During the upper Cretaceous, standing crops of large-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs would dominate the vertebrate fossil assemblages of numerous non-marine formations of the western interior basin of North America. This study aims to test existing hypotheses concerning ornithischian dinosaur biogeography, multiple phylogenetic-based biogeographic methods will be utilised to identify areas where poor sampling of the fossil record biases our understanding of dinosaur biodiversity and faunal turnover.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Paul Upchurch (Primary Supervisor) | |
Robert Mansergh (Student) |
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NE/S007229/1 | 30/09/2019 | 29/09/2027 | |||
2390155 | Studentship | NE/S007229/1 | 30/09/2020 | 29/09/2024 | Robert Mansergh |
Description | Limited findings so far because the project is in progress. Preliminary data gathered during the early stages of the project are informing current analyses. |
Exploitation Route | The comprehensively illustrated document for data collection will be published in the leading vertebrate palaeontological journal to serve as the framework for all future studies. |
Sectors | Environment |