Ancestral state reconstruction and the evolution of Australian marsupials (ARC Discovery Project administered by Queensland University of Technology) (2022–2025)
Abstract:
This project aims to investigate the diversification and evolvability of Australian marsupials, by enabling genomes,
ecology and 3D skeletal shape to synergistically inform evolutionary inference. This project expects to generate
new knowledge of the processes that have promoted and maintained marsupial biodiversity, by tracing their
evolution across a fossil gap that spans half of their history. Expected outcomes of this project include improved
methods for merging fossils into the tree of life and for reconstructing the ecology and morphology of ancestors on
phylogenetic trees. This should provide significant benefits, such as a coherent evolutionary context for informing
research on marsupial biology, ecology and conservation.