Kathleen M. Scott
Associate Professor
Functional morphology and allometry of the postcranial skeleton of living and fossil ungulates; paleobiology, systematics and evolution of ruminants
My research interests are in the evolutionary history, functional morphology and systematics of ungulates. A major part of my work examines postcranial skeletal correlates of habitat, body size and locomotor behavior in living ungulate mammals. Such morphological correlates can provide accurate ecological profiles of extinct ungulates. These profiles are used to examine fossil ungulate communities, to gain information about their vegetational habitat, and to track changes in vegetation over time. I am particularly interested in Tertiary climatic changes in North American, especially the Miocene savannah fauna with its many similarities to modern East Africa. A second part of my work analyzes the relationships among fossil and living ungulates, primarily ruminant artiodactyls, using morphological characteristics. One of the primary objectives of this work is to clarify the relationships among the fossil and living ruminants, and to attempt to clarify relationships of ruminants to other artiodactyls. I am particularly interested in studying the applicability of postcranial characteristics to phylogenetic analysis of ungulates, since these remains are plentiful and have not been widely used in this group; some consistent differences among families have been identified which promise to be useful in phylogenetic analysis.
Representative Publications:
1983. Body weight prediction in fossil Artiodactyla. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 77: 199- 215.
1985. Allometric trends and locomotor adaptations in the Bovidae. Bull. A. M. N. H. 179(2): 197-228.
1987. The origin of the higher ruminant families with special reference to the origin of the Cervoidea and relationships within the Cervoidea. American Museum Novitates 2893: 1-85. (with C. Janis, first author)
1990. Skeletal dimensions of ungulates as predictors of body mass, pp 301-335. In: J. Damuth and B. J. MacFadden (eds), Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
1993. Relationships of the Ruminantia (Artiodactyla) and an Analysis of the Characters Used in Ruminant Taxonomy. (with C. Janis as junior author), pp 282-302. In: F. Szalay, M. Novacek & M. McKenna (eds), Mammal Phylogeny. New York: Springer Verlag.