Project description
Exploring ecological impact on the morphological evolution of crocodylomorphs
Crocodylmorphs (present-day Crocodylia) of various sizes and shapes have survived in many different environments for over 200 million years, making them ideal candidates to study the impact of ecological changes on their morphology and subsequent locomotor abilities. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EXTREME CROCS project aims to analyse the morphology-based locomotor abilities of crocodylomorph skeletons to understand their habits. By investigating the biomechanical form and function of six extinct species, it will determine how their appendicular skeletons are adapted to terrestrial and swimming locomotion. To do so, the project will create 3D musculoskeletal models to compute predictive simulations of optimal locomotor performances, revealing the range of possible terrestrial and aquatic behaviours.
Objective
Fully understanding the ecology and evolution of extinct species requires analysis of their locomotor abilities, which are interactions with their environment that correlate with the morphology of the postcranial skeleton in complex ways. Locomotor abilities provide valuable insights into potential behaviors and ecological roles, such as how species hunted, avoided predators, selected habitats, and found mates. Crocodylomorpha, which nowadays comprises only 28 species of semi-aquatic ambush predators namely crocodylians is an important group for studying ecology and the processes of evolution over Deep Time, since Crocodylomorpha colonized a variety of environments and displayed a wide range of sizes and shapes for over 200 My. The aquatic clades Dyrosauroidea and Thalattosuchia, two notable examples of this rich diversity, exhibit clearly dissimilar anatomy, especially compared to modern crocodylians, implying strongly divergent locomotor abilities and behaviors, notably an inferior range of terrestrial gait. This divergence allows for functional hypotheses to be tested; hereby I hypothesize that habitat has a strong impact on the morphology of the crocodylomorph skeleton, which can be used as a basis to infer habitat on the scale of Crocodylomorpha (through quantitative proxies). As such, the primary goals of EXTREME CROCS are to use computational biomechanics, joint mobility analyses, and geometric morphometrics on entire skeletons to assess biomechanical form and function in extinct Crocodylomorpha and explore how the morphology of the appendicular skeleton is linked to terrestrial and swimming locomotor abilities. I will produce 3D musculoskeletal whole-body models of six species and use these to compute predictive simulations of optimal locomotor performances. These simulations will unveil the ranges of possible terrestrial behaviours (e.g. sprawling, high-walk, galloping), while intervertebral and limb joint mobilities will attest swimming abilities.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine anatomy and morphology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences biophysics
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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NW1 OTU London
United Kingdom
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