Rodent Macroevolution in the context of Major Miocene Environmental Changes – RoMa
The Miocene is characterized by important tectonic activity that drove sea level changes and orogeny, in turn significantly altering
the climate. About 20 million years ago the contact between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia created a land-bridge that enabled faunal
exchanges between these two continents. The aim of this project is to unravel the evolutionary response of the most speciose group
of mammals, the rodents, in this unique context of overwhelming biotic and abiotic perturbations. Cutting-edge methodologies
together with a combination of morphological and molecular approaches with time-calibrated phylogenetic trees will allow inferring
the dynamics of speciation and extinction and the variation of diversity among lineages. Long-standing questions in evolutionary
biology will be addressed: why certain clades are highly diversified while others are not? Is this due to the appearance of key
innovations or related to extrinsic factors?
Project coordination
Raquel Lopez-Antonanzas ([CNRS DR 13 Occitanie Est] Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - Délégation Régionale Occitanie Est)
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partner
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC/Department of Palaeobiology
Florida State University/Dept. of Biological Science
Geological Survey of Israel
West Virginia University/Biology Department
Université libanaise
Universidad de Barcelona
Université Rennes 1
LBBE Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Harvard University/Museum of Comparative Zoology
EDB EVOLUTION ET DIVERSITE BIOLOGIQUE
Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Institute of Earth Sciences
School of Earth Sciences/University of Bristol
ISEM [CNRS DR 13 Occitanie Est] Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - Délégation Régionale Occitanie Est
Help of the ANR 522,925 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
November 2022
- 48 Months
