Fields of Study
Fossil record and evolution of mammals, particularly the Carnivora.
About John
Finarelli
Dr. Finarelli is interested in the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships among fossil and extant carnivorans, and then using these hypotheses to aid in the reconstruction of the evolution of various organismal variables, including body size and brain size scaling. He incorporates several evidence-based quantitative approaches in his research, including Maximum Likelihood and Information Theory.
He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa (1995–1997), where he taught math to students in grades 9–12, promoted HIV/AIDS awareness among Beninese high-school students, and organized training of Peace Corps Volunteers and Beninese counterparts in an international Science/Environmental Education program.
Publications
Finarelli, JA in press. Mechanisms behind active trends in body size evolution in the Canidae (Carnivora: Mammalia). American Naturalist.
Clyde, WC, Hamzi, W, Finarelli, JA, Wing, SL, Schankler, D, and Chew, A 2007. A basin-wide magnetostratigraphic framework for the Bighorn Basin, WY. GSA Bulletin 119: 848-859.
Finarelli, JA and Flynn, JJ 2007. The evolution of encephalization in caniform carnivorans. Evolution. 61: 1758-1772.
Finarelli, JA 2006. Estimating endocranial volume through external skull measures in the Carnivora (Mammalia). Journal of Mammalogy 87: 1027–1036.
Finarelli, JA and Flynn, JJ 2006. Ancestral state reconstruction of body size in the Caniformia (Carnivora, Mammalia): the effects of incorporating data from the fossil record. Systematic Biology 55: 301-313.
Clyde, WC, Finarelli, JA, and Christensen, KE 2005. Evaluating the relationship between pedofacies and faunal composition: Implications for faunal turnover at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Palaios 20: 390-399.
Flynn, JJ, Finarelli, JA, Zehr, SM, Hsu, J, and Nedbal, MA 2005. Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships. Systematic Biology 54: 317-337.
Finarelli, JA and Clyde, WC 2004. Reassessing hominoid phylogeny: Evaluating congruence in the morphologic and temporal data. Paleobiology 30: 614-651.
van Zuilen, MA, Lepland, A, Teranes, J, Finarelli, JA, Wahlen, M, Arrhenius, G 2003. Graphite and associating carbonates in early Archean Isua supracrustal rocks, southern West Greenland. Precambrian Geology 126: 331-348.
Finarelli, JA and Clyde, WC 2002. Comparing the Gap Excess Ratio and the Retention Index of the Stratigraphic Character, Systematic Biology 51: 166-176.
|
