BEMADE · Brain evolution and the rise of mammals after the dinosaur extinction
„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“
- Период
- 2018-09-10 → 2020-09-09
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 195 455 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Еволюцията на мозъка и сетивните органи при ранните плацентарни бозайници се проследява чрез сканиране на окаменелости от палеоцена. Това помага да се разбере как катастрофичните събития влияят върху оцеляването и биоразнообразието на нашите предци.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Brain evolution and the rise of mammals after the dinosaur extinction
The overall aim of this project was to reconstruct the brains and sense organs of Paleocene placental mammals and use this information to understand how neurosensory evolution was related to their survival and diversification. This project allowed us to start testing when brain size and keen senses changed and more specifically if these events occurred before or after the end-Cretaceous extinction. This work provides more knowledge about a critical time in the evolution of our ancestor and the event that led to the current biodiversity. In this context, this project gives critical insight into how life can be permanent affected by a catastrophic event. The main objectives were to scan a large number of Paleocene specimens, quantify the size of different regions of the brain and inner ear endocasts of fossils from before and after the extinction and study when and how fast neurosensory features changed through time.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
There are over 5000 species of mammals alive today, the vast majority of which are placentals (which give live birth to well-developed young). How did these mammals become so successful? Intrinsic and extrinsic factors may have played a role: mammals have many specialised features such as enlarged brains with a novel structure (the neocortex) that imparts heightened memory and senses, but they also were presented with the freedom to diversify after the dinosaurs went extinct at the end-Cretaceous (66 million years ago). This raises a major question that the BEMADE project will address: did large brains and keen senses help mammals survive the apocalypse that killed the dinosaurs, or did they appear later as mammals began to fill niches left empty by dinosaurs? As the rise of mammals is a textbook example of an evolutionary radiation, resolving this dilemma will give critical new insight into what drives diversification over deep time. Until now, little has been known about the brains of mammals evolving during the ~10 million years after the extinction (the Paleocene), due to the rarity of fossils and the difficulty of reconstructing the brain in extinct species. BEMADE will remedy this by subjecting 16 Paleocene mammal skulls—many of which were recently discovered by the Supervisor—to cutting edge high-resolution x-ray and neutron computed tomography (CT) scanning, which permits 3D visualization of the brain cavity and sense organs. CT data will be used to measure key features of the brain related to intelligence and senses, which will be mapped onto the mammal family tree to test hypotheses about how and when neurosensory changes occurred. This will provide an unprecedented look at how the brain and senses changed across the end-Cretaceous extinction and whether sensory changes may have been key drivers in the rise of mammals. Additionally, BEMADE will enable the Fellow to learn new techniques in neutron scanning and statistical methods for studying evolution.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · EdinburghКоординаторОбединеното кралство
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз