Ecological Radiations of Mammals: Before & After the K/Pg Mass Extinction

The research in the Wilson Lab aims to understand critical transitions in the deep-time history of life. One of the most captivating of these transitions is the early evolutionary radiation of mammals, which ultimately led to their striking diversity today, from the tiny bumblebee bat to the titanic blue whale. Specifically, we focus on how mammals evolved during the Mesozoic Era (220 to 66 million years ago), when major mammal groups originated, and fundamental changes in the anatomy, physiology, and ecology of mammals occurred. We combine paleontological and geological field work, description and systematic study of fossil specimens, and quantitative analysis of morphology, function, and ecology of extant and extinct taxa. This work elucidates the paleoecology and macroevolution of early mammals in the context of dinosaur-dominated terrestrial ecosystems, the breakup of Pangaea, and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. In this seminar, I will summarize results from three research areas that span ecological scales from individual taxa to communities and ecosystems. A broader understanding of such ecological dynamics through time is critical to our understanding of the processes that govern ecosystem assembly and maintenance, topics that directly bear on efforts to forecast and mitigate the evolutionary and ecological consequences of our current biodiversity crisis.