Biodiversity of North American Mammals Active
The Challenge: Despite more than a century and a half of study, accurate understanding of the diversity North American mammalian species and the distribution of those species remains unrefined. Yet this understanding is essential for determining the conservation status of species, for mapping out potential disease reservoirs, and for understanding the response of species to habitat perturbation and climate change.
The Science: Systematic and taxonomic study of species and subspecies documents morphological, genetic, and geographical aspects of species limits. Study of historical records and type localities provides insight into genetic and distributional shifts that have already occurred.
The Future: Comprehensive study of mammalian species and species limits contributes to a better understanding of what aspects of the environment control species interactions, population abundances, and community diversity.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Patterns of morphological variation amongst semifossorial shrews in the highlands of Guatemala, with the description of a new species (Mammalia, Soricomorpha, Soricidae)
Nomenclatural notes and identification of small-eared shrews (Mammalia: genus Cryptotis) from Cobán, Guatemala, in The Natural History Museum, London
History and dating of the publication of the Philadelphia (1822) and London (1823) editions of Edwin James's Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains
Post-Clovis survival of American Mastodon in the southern Great Lakes Region of North America
The Stephen H. Long Expedition (1819?1820), Titian R. Peale?s field illustrations, and the lost holotypes of the North American shrews Sorex brevicaudus Say and Sorex parvus Say (Mammalia: Soricidae) from the Philadelphia Museum
The Overmyer mastodon (Mammut americanum) from Fulton County, Indiana
Fossil shrews from Honduras and their significance for late glacial evolution in body size (Mammalia: Soricidae: Cryptotis)
Evolution and biogeography of Mexican small-eared shrews of the Cryptotis mexicana-group (Insectivora: Soricidae)
Size evolution in Goodwin’s small-eared shrew, Cryptotis goodwini
The Challenge: Despite more than a century and a half of study, accurate understanding of the diversity North American mammalian species and the distribution of those species remains unrefined. Yet this understanding is essential for determining the conservation status of species, for mapping out potential disease reservoirs, and for understanding the response of species to habitat perturbation and climate change.
The Science: Systematic and taxonomic study of species and subspecies documents morphological, genetic, and geographical aspects of species limits. Study of historical records and type localities provides insight into genetic and distributional shifts that have already occurred.
The Future: Comprehensive study of mammalian species and species limits contributes to a better understanding of what aspects of the environment control species interactions, population abundances, and community diversity.
Below are publications associated with this project.