John Alroy
Encyclopedia
John Alroy is a paleobiologist born in New York
in 1966 and now residing in Sydney
.
n fossil mammals and Phanerozoic
marine invertebrate
s, connecting regional and local diversity, taxonomic composition
, body mass distributions, ecomorphology
, and phylogenetic patterns to intrinsic diversity dynamics, evolutionary trends, mass extinctions, and the effects of global climate change.
Alroy also coordinates the Paleobiology Database
, an open-source collaborative database
created by more than 240 researchers, funded by the National Science Foundation
and Australian Research Council
and based from 2000 to 2010 at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
In a Friday, September 3, 2010 online article by Hugh Collins, a contributor for AOL Online Science, Alroy is quoted in a newly-released study paper from Sydney's Macquarie University that "It would be unwise to assume that any large number of species can be lost today without forever altering the basic biological character of Earth's oceans."
(AEO) is a superior form of dating fossil collections, according to Alroy. Age assignments to North American land mammals are provided for comparison and may disagree with the AEO estimates because they are taken straight from published sources. Therefore, the assignments reflect the subjective opinions of the authors who described the fossils. They are not based on quantitative analyses
of faunal and biostratigraphic data.
"AEO age estimates are preferable because they are objective, repeatable, and quantitative. That's because AEO uses uses explicitly recorded and clearly defined numerical data, and because it uses algorithmic search and optimization criteria instead of verbal argumentation."
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1966 and now residing in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Area of expertise
Alroy specializes in diversity curves, speciation, and extinction of North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n fossil mammals and Phanerozoic
Phanerozoic
The Phanerozoic Eon is the current eon in the geologic timescale, and the one during which abundant animal life has existed. It covers roughly 542 million years and goes back to the time when diverse hard-shelled animals first appeared...
marine invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, connecting regional and local diversity, taxonomic composition
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, body mass distributions, ecomorphology
Ecomorphology
Ecomorphology or Ecological Morphology is studying relationships between morphological and ecological variation. There is modern emphasis on linking the two aspects of variation by measuring the performance of traits associated behaviors, and fitness outcomes of the relationships...
, and phylogenetic patterns to intrinsic diversity dynamics, evolutionary trends, mass extinctions, and the effects of global climate change.
Alroy also coordinates the Paleobiology Database
Paleobiology Database
' is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms.-History:The Paleobiology Database was founded in 2000. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council...
, an open-source collaborative database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
created by more than 240 researchers, funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and Australian Research Council
Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council is the Australian Government’s main agency for allocating research funding to academics and researchers in Australian universities. Its mission is to advance Australia’s capacity to undertake research that brings economic, social and cultural benefit to the...
and based from 2000 to 2010 at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
In a Friday, September 3, 2010 online article by Hugh Collins, a contributor for AOL Online Science, Alroy is quoted in a newly-released study paper from Sydney's Macquarie University that "It would be unwise to assume that any large number of species can be lost today without forever altering the basic biological character of Earth's oceans."
Education
- University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, Ph.D., 1994. - Reed CollegeReed CollegeReed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, Department of Biology, B.A., 1989. - Hunter College High SchoolHunter College High SchoolHunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York. Although it is not operated by the New York City Department of...
, graduated 1984.
Professional life
- Macquarie UniversityMacquarie UniversityMacquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, Future Fellow, 2010–present. - Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraThe University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, Assistant and later Associate Researcher, 2000-2010. - National Center for Ecological Analysis and SynthesisNational Center for Ecological Analysis and SynthesisThe National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is a research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara, California. Better known by its acronym, NCEAS opened in May 1995, and is funded by the U.S...
, Post-doctoral Fellow, 1998–2000, and Center Associate, 2000-2010. - University of ArizonaUniversity of ArizonaThe University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, Research Training Group in the Analysis of Biodiversification, 1994-1996. - Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Predoctoral internship, Department of Paleobiology and Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems consortium, 1989-1990.
Selected publications
- The shifting balance of diversity among major marine animal groups. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
329:1191-1194 (2010). - Speciation and extinction in the fossil record of North American mammals. pp. 301–323 in R. Butlin, J. Bridle, and D. Schluter (eds.), Speciation and Patterns of Diversity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2009).
- Dynamics of origination and extinction in the marine fossil record. PNAS 105:11536-11542 (2008).
- Phanerozoic trends in the global diversity of marine invertebrates. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
321:97-100 (with 34 others: 2008). - Statistical independence of escalatory ecological trends in Phanerozoic marine invertebrates. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
312:897-900 (with Madin et al.: 2006). - A multispecies overkill simulation of the end-Pleistocene megafaunal mass extinction. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
292:1893-1896 (2001). - Global climate change and North American mammalian evolution by John Alroy, Paul L. Koch, and James C. Zachos; The Paleontological Society (2000).
- Successive approximations of diversity curves: Ten more years in the library. GeologyGeology (journal)Geology is a publication of the Geological Society of America . The GSA claims that it is the most widely read scientific journal in the field of earth science...
28:1023-1026 (2000). - Equilibrial diversity dynamics in North American mammals. pp. 232–287 in M. L. McKinney and J. Drake (eds.), Biodiversity Dynamics: Turnover of Populations, Taxa and Communities. Columbia University Press, York (1998).
- Cope's rule and the dynamics of body mass evolution in North American mammals. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
280:731-734. - Constant extinction, constrained diversification, and uncoordinated stasis in North American mammals. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, PalaeoecologyPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, PalaeoecologyPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing multidisciplinary studies and comprehensive reviews in the field of palaeoenvironmental geology. The journal is edited by D. J. Bottjer, T. Corrège, A. P. Kershaw, and F. Surlyk...
127:285-311 (1996).
Honors
- 2010 NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing from the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. - 2007 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological SocietyPaleontological SocietyThe Paleontological Society, formally the Paleontological Society of America, is an international organisation devoted to the promotion of paleontology. The Society was founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland and was incorporated in April 1968 in the District of Columbia...
. - 1994 Romer Prize of the Society of Vertebrate PaleontologySociety of Vertebrate PaleontologyThe Society of Vertebrate Paleontology was founded in 1940 for individuals with an interest in vertebrate paleontology. SVP now has almost 2,000 members. The society's website states that SVP "is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes...
.
Appearance Event Ordination
Appearance Event OrdinationAppearance Event Ordination
Appearance Event Ordination or AEO is a scientific method for biochronology through the ordering of the appearance of fossil mammal genera by multivariate analysis, using conjunctional and disconjunctional range distributions in large sets of data.-Process:AEO is based on faunal overlap and...
(AEO) is a superior form of dating fossil collections, according to Alroy. Age assignments to North American land mammals are provided for comparison and may disagree with the AEO estimates because they are taken straight from published sources. Therefore, the assignments reflect the subjective opinions of the authors who described the fossils. They are not based on quantitative analyses
Quantitative analysis (chemistry)
In chemistry, quantitative analysis is the determination of the absolute or relative abundance of one, several or all particular substance present in a sample....
of faunal and biostratigraphic data.
"AEO age estimates are preferable because they are objective, repeatable, and quantitative. That's because AEO uses uses explicitly recorded and clearly defined numerical data, and because it uses algorithmic search and optimization criteria instead of verbal argumentation."