The YouTHERIA Team
Graduate Students
Ilana Pizer-Mason
Web Portal Design
Paul Fletcher and Lorna Scammell from DataArchitects
The Mammal Superteam
The Mammal Superteam project was originally conceived in 2001 by an international team of comparative evolutionary biologists to understand past, present and future mammalian biodiversity. Two research grants in particular supported the work, "Threatening processes and the conservation status of contemporary mammals" (awarded by NERC to
Georgina Mace and
Andy Purvis) and one entitled "The macroecology and biodiversity of geographic ranges in mammals" (awarded by NSF to
John Gittleman). The combination of the different facets of mammalian biodiversity information has permitted large-scale analyses of (among many others) diversification rates through time and correlates of extinction risk, and identification of species particularly vulnerable to rapid decline if threatening processes intensify. The team produced the first ever estimate of the evolutionary relationships, maps and biological traits of all mammals.
Superteam members in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2002.
Back left to right: Kate, John, Georgina, Sam, Wes and Marcel.
Front left to right: Jon, Rich, Olaf and Mike.
The large number of researchers involved in this enterprise are listed below with links to their current affiliations (where available):
Kate Jones,
Jon Bielby,
Marcel Cardillo,
Susanne Fritz, Justin O'Dell,
David Orme,
Kamran Safi, Wes Sechrest, Elizabeth Boakes, Jonathan Davies,
Chris Carbone, Ross MacPhee, Rutger Voss, Robin Beck, Christina Connolly, Michael Cutts, Janine Foster,
Richard Grenyer, Michael Habib, Christopher Plaster, Samantha Price, Elizabeth Rigby, Janna Rist, Amber Teacher,
Olaf Bininda-Emonds,
John Gittleman,
Georgina Mace and
Andy Purvis.