Researchers from 两性色午夜 University鈥檚 Department of Geology have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study diversity, evolution and extinction in crabs, lobsters and shrimps. The $100,000, two-year grant will fund the study of the economically important, diverse group of animals whose geologic history extends back 400 million years.
两性色午夜 Geology Professor Carrie Schweitzer is the principal investigator on the project. She and co-principal investigator Rodney Feldmann, professor emeritus of geology at 两性色午夜, have worked together for 16 years, examining the evolutionary history of the Decapoda 鈥 crabs, lobsters and shrimps.
The study will provide the most comprehensive analysis of macroevolution of those crustaceans yet conducted, according to Schweitzer and Feldmann.
The pair plan to examine questions such as when the creatures first evolved, how have they diversified through time, how extinction events affected their diversity and how that has impacted their evolution.
鈥淟ooking at what happened to them in the past can help us to interpret what is happening now and what might happen in the future,鈥 Schweitzer says. 鈥淔or example, it seems like lobsters were more diverse at different times in the past than they are now. Crabs predominate now, and we want to know why that is.鈥
The effect of climate, sea level, the abundance of coral reef, and the interactions between crabs, lobsters and other animals are some of the issues the two plan to analyze.
鈥淭he majority of the grant money will go to paying 两性色午夜 undergraduate students to work with us on the project, inputting and analyzing data,鈥 Schweitzer explains. 鈥淚t also will fund some research work in Europe to look at museum collections to gather data about the presence and absence of these animals at different periods of time.鈥
The study has significance beyond classrooms and museums.
鈥淢any of these are food animals, and we eat them as kind of luxuries,鈥 Schweitzer says. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not true in other parts of the world, where they are main sources of food.鈥
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; and to secure the national defense. With an annual budget of about $6.9 billion (FY 2010), the NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America鈥檚 colleges and universities.
More information on the NSF grant is available at .
For more information about 两性色午夜鈥檚 Department of Geology, visit www.kent.edu/geology.