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Tobin L.
Hieronymus, M.S.
Instructor of Anatomy
Department of Biomedical Sciences
135 Life Sciences Building
740-593-0784 |
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Anatomy and Histology
My anatomical
research focuses interactions between bone
and its surrounding tissues, as a means of
inferring soft-tissue anatomy in extinct
animals. Some of these interactions are
directly reflected in bony tissues, such as
the incorporation of ligaments and tendons
into bone by metaplastic ossification.
Because their mineralized parts are
preserved during fossilization, these
structures can be identified histologically
in both extant and extinct specimens.
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Transverse
section through the beak of a ring-
billed gull Larus delewarensis, seen
with
polarized light microscopy (click to
enlarge) |
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Evolutionary
Biology
My research also relies upon phylogenetic
hypotheses and homology statements as
additional decision criteria for inferring
unpreserved soft tissues. Comparative
analyses of this sort draw together
anatomical and histological data on a broad
range of Recent and fossil material to
address a few basic questions: are the
structures of interest homologous (derived
from a similar structure in a common
ancestor), parallel (evolving several times
independently within a restricted group), or
convergent (derived from different
structures in more distantly related
animals)? Each of these patterns leads to
separate testable hypotheses of evolutionary
process, such as adaptation, exaptation, or
developmental constraint. |
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Biostratinomy
and Paleoecology
Fossil quarries
contain a great deal of data beyond the
anatomy and histology of the bones being
exhumed. The arrangement and orientation of
the bones, the structure of the sediment
that they are contained in, and even
patterns of abrasion and breakage all
provide insight into the events that
occurred between the animal's death and its
eventual burial; biostratinomy is the
shorthand term for this field of study.
Biostratinomic work is a further means of
testing hypotheses about extinct animals and
the ecosystems that they inhabited.
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Mapping a
sauropod quarry as part of the
Rukwa Rift Basin Basin Project in
southwestern Tanzania |
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