TRACKEVOL

Reconstructing dinosaur/bird locomotor evolution: 3-D track simulation and X-ray validation

Coordinatore	THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE    more  Organization address address: Royal College Street city: LONDON postcode: NW10TU contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Carol Cognome: Lawson Email: send email Telefono: +44 02074685184
Nazionalità Coordinatore	United Kingdom [UK]
Totale costo	239˙221 €
EC contributo	239˙221 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF
Funding Scheme	MC-IOF
Anno di inizio	2012
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2012-01-09   -   2015-01-08

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE  Organization address address: Royal College Street city: LONDON postcode: NW10TU contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Carol Cognome: Lawson Email: send email Telefono: +44 02074685184	UK (LONDON)	coordinator	239˙221.60

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The evolution of birds from their dinosaur ancestors represents one of the most important and widely used examples of evolution available from the fossil record. Within this dinosaur-bird lineage, the evolution of bipedal locomotion has proven to be an intensely active area of research. Most of this research has taken an almost exclusively osteological approach, but while the fossilised skeletons of extinct animals can tell us much about their anatomy and palaeobiology, it is fossilised tracks that represent our only direct record of limb kinematics and animal locomotion.

A fossil track represents the only direct record of limb motion, being the result of an interaction between an animal’s foot and a substrate. Track morphology is completely determined by substrate consistency, limb kinematics and kinetics, and foot morphology. By reverse engineering the process of track formation, information can be obtained pertaining to the locomotion of the track maker.

The proposed research aims to investigate the effects of differing limb motion on track formation, in an attempt to understand locomotor evolution throughout the 230 million year evolutionary history of theropods (including modern birds). This will be achieved by marshalling state-of-the-art methods including bi-planer x-ray visualisation in order to physically model tracks. A virtual ‘track simulator,’ based on the discrete element method for modelling granular substrates will then be developed to explore in detail the effects limb motion has upon track formation. This knowledge will then be applied to the fossil record to observe any changes attributable to limb kinematics and locomotor evolution through time.'