September Meeting – Sunday September 22, 2019

Was Mammalian Diversity Suppressed During the Age of Dinosaurs?

Our guest speaker will be Dave Grossnickle, who is a post doctoral researcher in Professor Greg Wilson’s UW lab.

About Dave: I received my PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago in 2018, and my dissertation research examined broad macroevolutionary patterns of early mammals. I’ve continued similar work as a postdoctoral researcher in Greg Wilson’s lab at the U. of Washington. I utilize functional morphologies such as tooth shape, jaw shape, and limb proportions to infer the paleo-ecologies of fossil mammals. And from this data I assess the ecological diversity patterns of mammals and test hypotheses on the timing of the mammalian diversification, especially as it relates to the K-Pg mass extinction event.