Analyses of morphological disparity have been used to characterize and investigate the
evolution of variation in the anatomy, function and ecology of organisms since the 1980s. While …

Multidimensional analysis of traits are now common in ecology and evolution and are
based on trait spaces in which each dimension summarizes the observed trait combination (a …

Biological data is multivariate in essence: many traits in organisms covary with each other in
space and time. This causes biologists to either reduce these to a manageable number of …

Maximum lifespan in birds and mammals varies strongly with body mass such that large
species tend to live longer than smaller species. However, many species live far longer than …

The use of functional diversity analyses in ecology has grown exponentially over the past
two decades, broadening our understanding of biological diversity and its change across …

Stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs) are an important tool used to study species' trophic
ecology. These models are dependent on, and sensitive to, the choice of trophic …

To fully understand macroevolutionary patterns and processes, we need to include both
extant and extinct species in our models. This requires phylogenetic trees with both living and …

Endochondral bone is the main internal skeletal tissue of nearly all osteichthyans—the group
comprising more than 60,000 living species of bony fishes and tetrapods. Chondrichthyans …

Among vertebrates, placental mammals are particularly variable in the covariance between
cranial shape and body size (allometry), with rodents being a major exception. Australian …

Incorporating morphological data into modern phylogenies allows integration of fossil
evidence, facilitating divergence dating and macroevolutionary inferences. Improvements in the …