Allison Daley
I am a Palaeontologist interested in the early evolution of arthropods and predation, in particular Cambrian stem-lineage taxa from exceptionally preserved fossil deposits such as the Burgess Shale in Canada and the Emu Bay Shale in Australia. My focus is on a clade of stem-lineage arthropods known as the anomalocaridids, which includes some of the most renown taxa from the Cambrian, owing to their large size, unusual morphology, complicated history of description, and interpretation as top predators.
I completely my PhD in Palaeobiology at Uppsala University in March 2010. My thesis examined the morphology and evolutionary significance of the anomalocaridids. I then moved on to a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Natural History Museum in London, working on Anomalocaris from the Burgess Shale and Emu Bay Shale. My research initiatives have so far focused on exploring enigmatic features of anomalocaridid morphology, and on deciphering the relationships between the anomalocaridids and other stem- and crown-lineage arthropods such as the closely related taxon Opabinia and the Megacheirans. Further aspects of anomalocaridid paleontology, including their systematics, functional morphology, and ecology, are the topics of ongoing collaborations and projects.
My research interests also include the application of multivariate and morphometric statistics to fossil material. Work completely during my MSc at the University of Western Ontario examined patterns of boring predation in Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian brachiopods using multivariate statistics, and morphometrics have been applied to my research on the morphology of the anomalocaridid Hurdia. I am also interested in the application of fossil material to date the tree of life through calibration of molecular clocks, in particular in relation to the arthropods. I am originally from Canada and obtained my Bachelors degree from Queen's University.
Address: University of Lausanne
Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTE)
Geopolis
I completely my PhD in Palaeobiology at Uppsala University in March 2010. My thesis examined the morphology and evolutionary significance of the anomalocaridids. I then moved on to a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Natural History Museum in London, working on Anomalocaris from the Burgess Shale and Emu Bay Shale. My research initiatives have so far focused on exploring enigmatic features of anomalocaridid morphology, and on deciphering the relationships between the anomalocaridids and other stem- and crown-lineage arthropods such as the closely related taxon Opabinia and the Megacheirans. Further aspects of anomalocaridid paleontology, including their systematics, functional morphology, and ecology, are the topics of ongoing collaborations and projects.
My research interests also include the application of multivariate and morphometric statistics to fossil material. Work completely during my MSc at the University of Western Ontario examined patterns of boring predation in Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian brachiopods using multivariate statistics, and morphometrics have been applied to my research on the morphology of the anomalocaridid Hurdia. I am also interested in the application of fossil material to date the tree of life through calibration of molecular clocks, in particular in relation to the arthropods. I am originally from Canada and obtained my Bachelors degree from Queen's University.
Address: University of Lausanne
Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTE)
Geopolis
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