The Marie Skłodowska Curie Action "Exploring the Australian Reptile Hypervolume" looks at how lizards and snakes have evolved in the world's richest reptile hotspot, Australia. The research investigates how the more than 1,000 species of lizards and snakes have come to look they way they look, live where they live, and develop a cohesive tree-of-life that links these many unique animals. Archetypic lizards and snakes would be familiar to most people, but the Australian fauna also includes extreme shapes that can provide insight into the processes of evolution. The project investigates how these processes progress by observing and documenting the diversity of Australian reptiles, and then asking questions like 'how does a gecko become limbless?', 'why do some skinks become gigantic?', and 'how does a frill of a frilled lizard evolve?'.
These questions sound basic, but are difficult to quantify in evolutionary terms. To do so, I collected an encompassing morphological dataset (measurements of the head, body, limbs, and tail) that encapsulates tens of millions of years of evolution. I call this high-dimensional dataset the 'hypervolume'. Investigating these questions are foundational for our understanding of how evolution proceeds. Australia in particular, is a fantastic natural laboratory for studying evolution. Last connected to Antarctica 40 million years ago, Australia has long been separated from the other continents, and so has acted as a contained space for the evolution of many different plants and animals. Understanding these ideas presents a natural progression from evolutionary minds like Charles Darwin, George Gaylord Simpson, and Stephen J. Gould, who captured the minds of scientists and the general public.
The objectives of this MSCA have focused on (1) understanding evolution in high dimensional spaces using many measurments, (2) determining the pace and consistency of evolution, and (3) quantifying the morphological diversity of Australian reptiles. Through these objectives, I have also engaged in expanding my research program and developing curatorial skills that will further my career.
