Blaire Van Valkenburgh | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Washington, D.C. [2] | October 13, 1952
Citizenship | United States |
Education | Ph.D. |
Alma mater | |
Known for | quantitative analysis of ecological guild structure in fossil carnivores |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Vertebrate Paleontology, Paleobiology, Paleoecology |
Institutions | University of California Los Angeles (1986-Present) |
Thesis | (1984 [2] ) |
Doctoral advisor | Robert Bakker [2] |
Website | http://www.eeb.ucla.edu/indivfaculty.php?FacultyKey=1620 |
Blaire Van Valkenburgh is an American paleontologist and holds the Donald R. Dickey Chair in Vertebrate Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California Los Angeles. She is a former president of Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Van Valkenburgh was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Her mother, Lois Van Valkenburgh, was a civil rights activist. From 1964 to 1970, she attended T. C. Williams High School. [5] [6]
Van Valkenburgh received a bachelor's degree from Stockton State College in New Jersey in 1974, [1] a Ph.D. in Vertebrate Paleobiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1984, where she worked with Robert Bakker, [1] after which she worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Alan Walker at Johns Hopkins [7] before moving to UCLA in 1986. [2]
Van Valkenburgh is a paleontologist and holds the Donald R. Dickey Chair in Vertebrate Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California Los Angeles. [8] [9] She has served as chair of the department and as associate dean of academic programs in the life sciences at UCLA.The focus of her research is the paleobiology and paleoecology of Carnivora. [10] [11] Her contributions include quantification of guild structure in fossil carnivore communities and the study of iterative evolution in carnivore feeding adaptations. [12] [13]
Van Valkenburgh served as president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology from 2008 to 2010 [14] and as associate editor of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology from 2011 to 2017. [2]
Carnivora is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the fifth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species.
Smilodon is a genus of felids belonging to the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae. It is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats. Smilodon lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch. The genus was named in 1842 based on fossils from Brazil; the generic name means "scalpel" or "two-edged knife" combined with "tooth". Three species are recognized today: S. gracilis, S. fatalis, and S. populator. The two latter species were probably descended from S. gracilis, which itself probably evolved from Megantereon. The hundreds of specimens obtained from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles constitute the largest collection of Smilodon fossils.
The dire wolf is an extinct canine. It is a North American prehistoric carnivore that was a competitor to the extinct Smilodon. The dire wolf lived in the Americas and eastern Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. The species was named in 1858, four years after the first specimen had been found. Two subspecies are recognized: Aenocyon dirus guildayi and Aenocyon dirus dirus. The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Canis is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and dentition, long legs, and comparatively short ears and tails.
Nyctereutes is a genus of canid which includes only two extant species, both known as raccoon dogs: the common raccoon dog and the Japanese raccoon dog. Nyctereutes first entered the fossil record 5.5 million years ago (Mya) in northern China. It was one of the earliest canines to arrive in the Old World. All but two species became extinct before the end of the Pleistocene. A study suggests that the evolution of Nyctereutes was influenced by environmental and climatic changes, such as the expansion and contraction of forests and the fluctuations of temperature and precipitation.
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world.
Viverravidae is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives to extant carnivorans.
Mary R. Dawson was a vertebrate paleontologist and curator emeritus at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Aelurodon is an extinct canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae which lived from the Barstovian land mammal age of the middle Miocene to the late Miocene epoch. Aelurodon existed for approximately 10.7 million years.
Dinogorgon is a genus of gorgonopsid from the Late Permian of South Africa and Tanzania. The generic name Dinogorgon is derived from Greek, meaning "terrible gorgon", while its species name rubidgei is taken from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo Basin. The type species of the genus is D. rubidgei.
Carnivoramorpha is a clade of placental mammals of clade Pan-Carnivora from mirorder Ferae, that includes the modern order Carnivora and its extinct stem-relatives.
A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material. Some extant examples of hypercarnivorous animals include crocodilians, owls, shrikes, eagles, vultures, felids, most wild canids, cetaceans, snakes, spiders, scorpions, mantises, marlins, groupers, piranhas and most sharks. Every species in the family Felidae, including the domesticated cat, is a hypercarnivore in its natural state. Additionally, this term is also used in paleobiology to describe taxa of animals which have an increased slicing component of their dentition relative to the grinding component. Hypercarnivores need not be apex predators. For example, salmon are exclusively carnivorous, yet they are prey at all stages of life for a variety of organisms.
The Romer-Simpson Medal is the highest award issued by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for "sustained and outstanding scholarly excellence and service to the discipline of vertebrate paleontology". The award is named in honor of Alfred S. Romer and George G. Simpson.
Xiaoming Wang is a Chinese-born American vertebrate paleontologist and geologist who lives and teaches in the United States.
Richard Hall Tedford was Curator Emeritus in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, having been named as curator in 1969.
Homotherini is an extinct tribe of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae. The tribe is commonly known as scimitar-toothed cats. These saber-toothed cats were distributed en North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c. 12,000 years ago.
Paul David Polly is an American paleontologist and the Robert R. Shrock Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University as well as the sitting chair of the department.
Anjali Goswami is a Resesarch Leader and Dean of the Graduate Centre at the Natural History Museum. She is an Honorary Professor of Paleobiology at University College London (UCL) in the Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment. She was elected President of the Linnean Society of London, in 2022 and is the first person of colour elected to this role since its founding in 1788. Goswami's expertise is in vertebrate evolution and development, particularly using high-resolution 3D images of specimens to quantify and reconstruct the evolution of biodiversity and understand how development, ecology and large-scale environmental effects have shaped animal evolution through deep time.
Protictis is an extinct paraphyletic genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America from early Paleocene to middle Eocene.
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