BEYOND THE PHYLOGENY: USING PHYLOGENETICALLY-CONSTRAINED DATA TO INFER BIOGEOGRAPHIC, EVOLUTIONARY, AND PALEOECOLOGICAL PATTERNS

Fossil specimens provide the raw data for paleontological studies. Descriptions of new taxa and species provide insight into the diversity of the past that cannot be derived in any other way. In addition to documenting past life, specimen-based research provides the framework for theoretical advances in paleontology.

With the increased usage of phylogenetic methods in the 15 years, the evolutionary relationships of many fossil clades are better understood and more robustly constrained than ever before. Deriving robust hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships is a worthwhile goal in itself, but equally or perhaps even more exciting is the evolutionary framework provided for additional analyses.

This session will emphasize modern uses of well-constrained species-level phylogenetic hypotheses for analyzing patterns in the history of life. Examples derived from studies based on species-level phylogenies of Devonian shallow marine taxa, Mesozoic to Recent freshwater crayfish, and Mesozoic to Recent amphisbaenians illustrate the importance of specimen based data to theoretical interpretations within paleoecology, biodiversity (speciation/extinction events), and paleobiogeography.