Maria Rose-Møller

Thesis title: The comparative anatomy of the mammalian larynx.

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Background

Supervisory team: Prof Jacob C. Dunn, Dr Thomas O’Mahoney, Dr Emma Pomeroy (University of Cambridge)

Maria's PhD project aims to investigate the variations in the relative size and shape of the larynx in the mammalian groups: Hoofed animals (Artiodactyla & Perissodactyla), bats (Chiroptera) and rodents (Rodentia).

Based on micro-CT images of larynges from a variety of species across these orders, she will examine the allometric relationship between larynx size and body size (laryngeal allometry), identify variations within the orders and analyse the shape of the larynx in combination with the size using geometric morphometric techniques.

Additionally, she will investigate the evolutionary processes behind the anatomical evolution of the larynx in each order by using ancestral state reconstruction and evolutionary rate analysis. Finally, she will establish and analyse potential evolutionary drivers behind the variations using phylogenetic comparative methods to propose hypotheses on selective pressures direction the evolution of the mammalian larynx.

This will provide essential data to further our overall understanding of the evolution of the mammalian larynx.