Objective
Did dinosaurs suppress the evolution of large mammals, or was early mammal size and diversity more related to the environmental conditions? Mammals first appeared in the Late Triassic, and lived alongside dinosaurs during the rest of the Mesozoic (Jurassic and Cretaceous), during which time they were all small and generalized in their ecologies. Only after dinosaur extinction (at the end of the Mesozoic) did mammals diversify into larger and more specialized forms, and so suppression by dinosaur competition is the usual explanation for this evolutionary pattern. I propose that the vegatational habitat was the more important factor. The angiosperms (flowering plants) that make up the majority of today’s vegetation did not appear until the Cretaceous, and did not become the dominant flora until the Cenozoic. Angiosperm forests are multi-strated with a large diversity of fruits and seeds, and provide a more suitable habitat for mammals than the gymnosperm (e.g.. conifers) forests of the Mesozoic. Towards the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperm leaf morphology had evolved such that the trees would be able to create their own microhabitats, making rain forests possible. This time period provides a window of opportunity to see if mammal evolution changed in response to the encroaching angiosperm dominance. There is evidence of dietary change at this time (to more herbivory), but was there also a change in substrate use; i.e. in the proportions of tree-dwelling versus ground-dwelling mammals? Many isolated skeletal elements can be used in the determination of locomotor behavior, but while they can be found in fossil assemblages they are usually not described. Examination of such elements will enable the determination of whether or not fossil mammal communities underwent an ecological shift in substrate use at the end of the Cretaceous, and will answer the question of whether mammal evolution is influenced more by the floral environment than by the presence of dinosaurs.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences palaeontology biostratigraphy
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture fruit growing
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
BS8 1QU BRISTOL
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.