BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Madness in their Method? problematic practices in Palaeobiogeograp
 hy illustrated by the study of dinosaurs. - Paul Upchurch\, Dept. Earth Sc
 iences\, UCL 
DTSTART:20180523T160000Z
DTEND:20180523T170000Z
UID:TALK106270@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Andy Buckley
DESCRIPTION:Palaeo Journal Club : \nThe spatial distributions of organisms
  are not random\, rather they reflect patterns created by the complex inte
 rplay between extrinsic abiotic factors and intrinsic biological factors t
 hrough evolutionary time. As such\, the field of Palaeobiogeography forms 
 a key component in our understanding of macroevolutionary patterns and pro
 cesses. A survey of the extensive literature on dinosaur biogeography reve
 als a number of problematic issues\, including Imprecise definitions of co
 ncepts\, inappropriate or inadequate analytical approaches\, and unresolve
 d concerns about the impact of an incomplete fossil record on putative spa
 tial patterns. Such problems are not unique to the study of dinosaurs but 
 pervade all of palaeobiogeographic research. Even after more than two deca
 des of development of quantitative analytical methods for identifying and 
 testing biogeographic patterns in the fossil record\, approximately 90% of
  studies can be categorised as essentially ‘narrative’ in nature. An e
 xample of the problems we encounter is given by the concepts of ‘cosmopo
 litanism’ and ‘endemism’. Workers frequently claim that a group is c
 osmopolitan or endemic\, and then use this to argue for the operation of b
 iological processes and/or infer palaeogeographic relationships between ar
 eas. However\, both the logical and evidential nature of these claims can 
 be critiqued. Many problems can be circumvented\, or at least ameliorated\
 , through the application of advanced Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian appr
 oaches to ancestral area estimation\, and network approaches for quantifyi
 ng biotic ‘connectedness’. Such studies are beginning to reveal import
 ant aspects of dinosaur biogeography. For example\, there is growing evide
 nce that many groups became widespread across Pangaea prior to the latter
 ’s break up in the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous\, and it appears that la
 ter endemism on Pangaean fragments is more probably the result of regional
  extinctions than vicariance.  While these new quantitative and probabilis
 tic approaches represent an important step forward\, they remain vulnerabl
 e to problems caused by uneven sampling of the fossil record and errors in
  dating divergence times. These latter two issues are likely to form the k
 ey areas of advance during the next decade of palaeobiogeographic research
 .\n
LOCATION: Harker 1\, Department of Earth Sciences\, Downing Street
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR