Eccentric sand dollar ©Randy Bjorklund/Shutterstock
Project Overview
Sand dollars are flattened, disc-shaped sea urchins that live in high-energy coastal environments across the globe. Why they evolved this atypical morphology remains a mystery. This project aims to uncover how environmental pressures shaped the sand dollar body plan using cutting-edge 3D morphometrics, computational techniques from engineering and evolutionary modeling.
Understanding how the environment has shaped the evolution of form and function is a key question in evolutionary biology, yet one which is still not well-understood. For example, while it is clear that marine species are strongly influenced by their fluid environment (i.e., the ocean), the extent to which this has driven their evolution through time remains uncertain. This novel interdisciplinary project will address this by investigating the role of fluid mechanics in shaping the evolution of body plans. Sand dollars are diverse and abundant in today’s oceans and have one of the best fossil records for any animal group. They are adapted to live in high-energy nearshore environments, yet the role of moving fluids in shaping their body plans is unclear. Using high-resolution 3D morphometrics of fossils, as well as museum specimens of extant species, the student will use phylogenetic and statistical modelling to characterize the pattern and pace of sand dollar evolution, uncovering when and how they evolved their flattened, disc-shaped body plan. They will then use computer simulations and biomechanical experiments to test hypotheses regarding the role of fluid flow in the evolution of the sand dollar body plan. The student will receive training in cutting-edge techniques from a world-class, interdisciplinary team comprising palaeobiologists, biomechanists and marine biologists from the University of Southampton and the Natural History Museum. The results will transform our knowledge of the evolution of form and function in sand dollars, with implications for understanding how the environment has influenced animal evolution more broadly.
Training
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted in the School of Ocean and Earth Science. Specific training will
include:
Generation and analysis of micro-CT scan data
Analysis of 3D geometric morphometric data
Phylogenetic comparative methods using R
Computational fluid dynamics
Analysis of fossil and modern specimens from museum collections
Training in experimental measurement with fluids to determine the dynamic effects of interactions between fluid dynamics and organisms under dynamic conditions
A suitable first degree would be in any discipline
Funding Notes
Further reading
Rahman, Imran A. "Computational fluid dynamics as a tool for testing functional and ecological hypotheses in fossil taxa." Palaeontology 60.4 (2017): 451-459.
Nicolás Mongiardino Koch , Jeffrey R Thompson A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoidea Combining Phylogenomic and Paleontological Data, Systematic Biology 70. 3,(2021): 421–439.
Telford, M. An experimental analysis of lunule function in the sand dollar Mellita quinquiesperforata . Marine Biology. 76, (1983):125–134. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392729
This is a joint PhD training partnership between the Natural History Museum and INSPIRE, a NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), creating an innovative multi-disciplinary experience for the effective training of future leaders in environmental science, engineering, technology development, business, and policy.
Funded by
