Sylvain Gerber

Sylvain Gerber

Sylvain Gerber

Research Officer

4 South 1.07
01225 385437
s.gerber@bath.ac.uk

Biography

2004-2007 PhD in evolutionary paleobiology, UMR CNRS Biogéosciences, Université de Bourgogne (France)
2007-2008 Research and teaching assistant, Université de Bourgogne
2008-2009 Postdoctoral Scholar, Dept of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago (USA)
2009-present Postdoctoral researcher, Dept of Biology & Biochemistry, The University of Bath (UK)

Research Interests

As an evolutionary paleobiologist, I am broadly interested in large-scale morphological evolution and in the multiple processes that underlie its dynamics. My research interests lie at the intersection of evolutionary paleobiology and evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and aim at assessing and better characterizing the role of development in macroevolution. The questions I am trying to answer include:

  • What is the diversity of the development-based mechanisms acting on large-scale morphological evolution?
  • What are the relative prevalence and evolutionary impacts of these mechanisms?
  • Which operational proxies can we devise to track them?
  • How do organizational and variational phenotypic properties of organisms structure morphospaces?
  • How can we disentangle the developmental and functional drivers of morphospace occupancy?
  • How can the developmental dynamics generate evolutionary trends and explain the differential success of clades?

    • To address these questions, I am analyzing extinct and extant clade histories across geologic and phylogenetic times, within an explicitly developmental and quantitative framework. My research involves the use of morphometric and statistical methods, as well as mathematical modeling and simulations.

    Publications

    Gerber, S. & M. J. Hopkins (in press) Mosaic heterochrony and evolutionary modularity: the trilobite genus Zacanthopsis as a case study. Evolution

    Gerber, S. 2011. Comparing the differential filling of morphospace and allometric space through time: the morphological and developmental dynamics of early Jurassic ammonoids. Paleobiology 37: 369-382

    Gerber, S., G. J. Eble & P. Neige. 2011. Developmental aspects of morphological disparity dynamics: a simple analytical exploration. Paleobiology 37: 237-251

    Neige P., A. Brayard, S. Gerber & I. Rouget. 2009. Les Ammonoïdés (Mollusca, Cephalopoda): avancées et contributions récentes a la paléobiologie évolutive. C. R. Palevol 8: 167-178.

    Forel B., M. Gabillot, F. Monna, S. Forel, C. H. Dommergues, S. Gerber, C. Petit, C. Mordant & C. Chateau. 2008. Morphometry of middle Bronze Age axes by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 721-729.

    Gerber S., G. J. Eble & P. Neige. 2008. Allometric space and allometric disparity: a developmental perspective in the macroevolutionary analysis of morphological disparity. Evolution 62: 1450-1457.

    Gerber S., P. Neige & G. J. Eble. 2007. Combining ontogenetic and evolutionary scales of morphological disparity: a study of early Jurassic ammonites. Evolution & Development 9: 472-482.

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