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SUMMARY:The Origin\, Evolution\, and Extinction of the Dinosaurs - Dr. Ste
 phen Brusatte\, University of Edinburgh
DTSTART:20140304T163000Z
DTEND:20140304T173000Z
UID:TALK49631@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Alex Liu
DESCRIPTION:Dinosaurs are some of the most celebrated icons of evolution a
 nd extinction. They dominated terrestrial ecosystems during much of the Me
 sozoic\, some reaching colossal sizes larger than any other land-living or
 ganisms\, before going extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Much of my re
 search focuses on the evolutionary history of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs evolved
  from small\, fast-running reptiles in the immediate\naftermath of the end
 -Permian extinction\, but remained rare and ecologically marginal until th
 e Late Triassic. During the entire Triassic they were eclipsed on land by 
 crocodile-line reptiles\, which were more diverse\, ecologically disparate
 \, and globally widespread than dinosaurs. The end-Triassic extinction sud
 denly killed off most crocodile-line archosaurs\, giving dinosaurs the opp
 ortunity to become dominant creatures in the Early Jurassic. It was at thi
 s time that dinosaurs truly became pre-eminent\, by spreading across the g
 lobe\, evolving into a range of niches\, and developing colossal size. Din
 osaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for the next ~130 million
  years before they suddenly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Din
 osaur faunas were apparently undergoing dramatic changes\nduring the final
  12 million years of the Cretaceous\, before an asteroid impact delivered 
 a final coup de grace. One group of dinosaurs\, however\, survived: the bi
 rds. Dinosaurs are therefore present in today's world as 10\,000 species r
 anging from pigeons to peacocks.
LOCATION:Harker 1 seminar room\, Department of Earth Sciences
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