{"id":6,"date":"2018-03-08T08:57:44","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T16:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2018-04-16T15:58:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T22:58:22","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_heading-434d7c873cfdb01af99bb7accbd73b10\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-434d7c873cfdb01af99bb7accbd73b10{\npadding-bottom:12px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-434d7c873cfdb01af99bb7accbd73b10 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-av_heading-434d7c873cfdb01af99bb7accbd73b10 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-av_heading-434d7c873cfdb01af99bb7accbd73b10 av-special-heading-h3  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-first '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >RESEARCH<\/h3><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_three_fifth-6126cab7d8fab8d08143dd2dacdf673c\">\n.flex_column.av-av_three_fifth-6126cab7d8fab8d08143dd2dacdf673c{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_three_fifth-6126cab7d8fab8d08143dd2dacdf673c av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_two_fifth  first flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_heading-db701c23187a329c869aa191b7a77978\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-db701c23187a329c869aa191b7a77978{\npadding-bottom:10px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-db701c23187a329c869aa191b7a77978 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-av_heading-db701c23187a329c869aa191b7a77978 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-av_heading-db701c23187a329c869aa191b7a77978 av-special-heading-h3  avia-builder-el-2  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Domestic dog olfaction and morphological diversity within the skull<\/h3><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p>Within the mammalian nose is the cribriform plate, through which all olfactory nerves pass through to get from the nasal passage to the olfactory bulb within the brain. Recent research in our lab has found a relationship between the surface area of the cribriform plate and the number of active olfactory receptor genes within the genome of that species. We are continuing to study this relationship in the unique case of the domestic dog, which has undergone rapid morphological change in a relatively short span of time due to artificial selection.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_two_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2\">\n.flex_column.av-av_two_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_two_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2 av_two_fifth  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_two_fifth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><div  class='avia-video av-av_video-3351e640119d8df3df7e7ca0859c8f41 avia-video-16-9 av-no-preview-image avia-video-load-always avia-video-html5'  itemprop=\"video\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"  data-original_url='https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/engl714__003.mp4'><video class='avia_video'    preload=\"auto\"  controls id='player_6_99208478_1043031774'><source src='https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/engl714__003.mp4' type='video\/mp4' \/><\/video><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_two_fifth-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe\">\n#top .flex_column.av-av_two_fifth-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-av_two_fifth-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n.responsive #top #wrap_all .flex_column.av-av_two_fifth-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_two_fifth-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe av_two_fifth  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_two_fifth  el_before_av_three_fifth  first flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h4 style=\"text-align: center\">Function and evolution of mammalian turbinates<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/kitfox80-127invert.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"378\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/kitfox80-127invert.jpg 378w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/kitfox80-127invert-300x281.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/> Copyright 1990-1998. Bio-Imaging Research, Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2\">\n#top .flex_column.av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n.responsive #top #wrap_all .flex_column.av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2 av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-8  el_after_av_two_fifth  el_before_av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p>A major area of my current research involves the study of turbinate (both respiratory and olfactory) structure across the entire order Carnivora.\u00a0 Nearly all mammals possess complex bony scrolls within the nasal chamber, the maxilloturbinates, which function to conserve water and warm inspired air during ventilation. Olfactory turbinates are adjacent to respiratory turbinates but are covered in sensory epithelium. Despite the fact that olfactory and respiratory turbinates make up as much as a third of a mammalian skull, variations in their structure are poorly understood, largely because the fine-scale and internal location of turbinates make them difficult to visualize.\u00a0 Funded by NSF, we are using enhanced computer visualization of high-resolution CT scans to quantify turbinate surface area and other parameters in 30+ species across the order Carnivora (click here for a list of scanned species: <a title=\"Research_files\/CT scanned carnivora.pdf\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/CT-scanned-carnivora.pdf\">CT scanned carnivora.pdf<\/a>). Working with Dr. S. Soatto and his graduate students in the Computer Science Department at UCLA, we developed new software to resolve these complex structures and virtually extract them in three dimensions from the skull such that aspects of their anatomy can be readily quantified.\u00a0 In collaboration with engineers at Penn State, we are using computational fluid dynamics to quantify airflow in the nasal cavity.\u00a0 Ultimately, insights from this work will be transferable to fossil mammals, assisting us in reconstructing the evolutionary history of two fundamental features of mammalian evolution: olfaction and respiration.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_one_full-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe\">\n#top .flex_column.av-av_one_full-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-av_one_full-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n.responsive #top #wrap_all .flex_column.av-av_one_full-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_one_full-313f5acec16798d87ca60cf333a528fe av_one_full  avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_three_fifth  el_before_av_two_fifth  first flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"916\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia.jpg 916w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia-300x99.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia-768x252.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia-705x232.jpg 705w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/Cat-turbinates-and-epithelia-450x148.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 916px) 100vw, 916px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<div class='flex_column_table av-av_two_fifth-85e020791dde729988f9e5736dbe934c sc-av_two_fifth av-equal-height-column-flextable'>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_two_fifth-85e020791dde729988f9e5736dbe934c\">\n#top .flex_column_table.av-equal-height-column-flextable.av-av_two_fifth-85e020791dde729988f9e5736dbe934c{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-av_two_fifth-85e020791dde729988f9e5736dbe934c{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_two_fifth-85e020791dde729988f9e5736dbe934c av_two_fifth  avia-builder-el-12  el_after_av_one_full  el_before_av_three_fifth  first flex_column_table_cell av-equal-height-column av-align-top av-zero-column-padding  column-top-margin'     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h4 style=\"text-align: center\">Parallels between past and present predator guilds<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-140 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/brkn-crocuta3-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/brkn-crocuta3-4.jpg 340w, https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2018\/03\/brkn-crocuta3-4-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<div class='av-flex-placeholder'><\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2\">\n#top .flex_column_table.av-equal-height-column-flextable.av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:20px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_three_fifth-0aa7055fe62c3622faec82866afbaeb2 av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-14  el_after_av_two_fifth  avia-builder-el-last  flex_column_table_cell av-equal-height-column av-align-top av-zero-column-padding  column-top-margin'     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-0366cc7376be6c9e82a3e9cc8987b64f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p class=\"paragraph_style_1\" lang=\"--multilingual\" xml:lang=\"--multilingual\">Using tooth wear as a window into past community dynamics is a novel approach to the fossil record that I pioneered.\u00a0 I first explored the implications of unusually heavy tooth wear in Pleistocene carnivores in a 1993 Science paper on Rancho La Brea carnivores. More recently I compared dental fracture frequencies between several Pleistocene predator populations (Alaska, California, Texas, Mexico, Venezuela) and those of 35 species of extant carnivores, ranging from skunks to lions.\u00a0 The mean frequency of tooth fracture in all the Pleistocene species was four times that of modern species, and the trend was even apparent when comparing Pleistocene and living populations of the same species such as coyotes and wolves. This suggests that selection pressures on large carnivore in the pre-human dominated world may have been just as severe, although different in kind from what they experience at present and historically, and should alter our view of how pristine mammal communities functioned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_style_1\" lang=\"--multilingual\" xml:lang=\"--multilingual\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seeking yet another novel approach to interpreting the lives of extinct species, I turned to predator playback experiments in Africa used to census lion and hyenas. In these experiments, the sounds of dying wildebeest are used to attract carnivores and the individuals are counted.\u00a0 I was struck by the similarity between the playbacks and the situation at Rancho La Brea in which numerous carnivores were lured to their death by a dying herbivore in the tar seeps.\u00a0 In the African experiments, large and small social species (lions, hyenas, jackals) actively moved towards the playbacks while large and small solitary species rarely did so.\u00a0 This suggested a strong advantage for sociality (safety in numbers) when approaching a carcass, given the potential danger for battle with similarly motivated individuals.\u00a0 Working with C. Carbone and others, we showed that the parallels between La Brea and Africa were remarkable, assuming that the sabertooth cat (<span class=\"style_1\">Smilodon<\/span>) was social. Instead of hyenas, lions, and jackals, it was dire wolves, <span class=\"style_1\">Smilodon<\/span>, and coyotes.\u00a0 It is very difficult to infer social behavior in extinct species, and our paper provides the strongest inferential evidence for sociality in a sabertooth cat thus far.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><\/div><!--close column table wrapper. Autoclose: 1 -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.lifesci.ucla.edu\/eeb-vanvalkenburgh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}