Biography:P. David Polly

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Short description: American paleontologist and the Robert R (born 1966)
P. David Polly
Born1966
Jefferson City, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
EducationBA, PhD
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
University of California, Berkeley
Known forwork on fossil Carnivora and Creodonta, quantitative evolution, geometric morphometrics
Awards
  • Joseph T. Gregory Award 2001
  • President, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2016-2018
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2021
Scientific career
FieldsVertebrate Paleontology, Evolutionary Biology
InstitutionsIndiana University
Queen Mary, University of London
Natural History Museum, London
University of Michigan
Doctoral advisorWilliam A. Clemens, Jr.
Websiteearth.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/polly-p.html

Paul David Polly is an American paleontologist and the Robert R. Shrock Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University as well as the sitting chair of the department.[1][2]

Polly's research focuses on quantitative evolution, phylogeny, and paleoecology of vertebrates.[3] Much of his work has been on the phylogenetics and functional evolution of mammals, especially Carnivora[4][5] and Creodonta,[6] on the correspondence between phenotypic and genetic differentiation,[7] on the role of functional traits in structuring mammalian communities,[8] and on the evolution of multivariate quantitative morphological traits.[9] With lead author Jason Head and other co-authors, he helped describe the giant fossil snake Titanoboa and the associated methods for estimating paleotemperature from the size of extinct reptiles.[10][11]

Polly received a BA from the Plan II Honors program at University of Texas at Austin in 1987[12] and a PhD in Paleontology from the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley in 1993 for his work on the phylogeny of creodonts.[13] He was then a member of the Michigan Society of Fellows from 1994 to 1996,[14] and on the faculty of the St. Bartholomew's and Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and later the School of Biological Sciences, at Queen Mary, University of London from 1997 to 2006. He moved to Indiana University in 2006. In 2021 he became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS).[15]

With Robert P. Guralnick and Allen Collins, Polly started one of the first 50 websites in the world in 1993, the University of California Museum of Paleontology site.[16] In 2001, Polly received the Joseph T. Gregory Award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for putting the society on the web and developing an online abstract submission system.[17]

Polly served as president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology from 2016 through 2018.[18] During Polly's term as SVP president, US President Donald J. Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke downsized two national monuments that protect vertebrate paleontological resources, Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Polly was involved in lawsuits by SVP to reverse those actions, which are currently ongoing.[19]

References

  1. "P. David Polly, Indiana University". Indiana University. http://geology.indiana.edu/polly/. 
  2. Blasing, George. "134 – Interview with Dr. David Polly – President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology". RadioPublic. https://radiopublic.com/dinosaur-george-podcast-a-podcas-8Xkdz6/ep/s1!a37ac3b9f7b289c21d9af2b5dc84a336f7d8ecd4. 
  3. "GoogleScholar Profile, P. David Polly". Google, Inc.. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aPOrK60AAAAJ&hl=en. 
  4. Polly, P. D. (1997). "Ancestry and Species Definition in Paleontology: A Stratocladistic Analysis of Paleocene-Eocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Wyoming". Contributions from the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology 30: 1–53. 
  5. Polly, P.D.; Fuentes-Gonzales, J.; Lawing, A. M.; Bormet, A. K.; Dundas, R. (2017). "Clade sorting has a greater effect than local adaptation on ecometric patterns in Carnivora". Evolutionary Ecology Research 16: 61–95. http://evolutionary-ecology.com/abstracts/v18/3011.html. 
  6. Polly, P. D. (1996). "The Skeleton of Gazinocyon vulpeculus Gen. et comb. nov. and the Cladistic Relationships of Hyaenodontidae (Eutheria, Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16 (2): 303–319. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011318. Bibcode1996JVPal..16..303P. 
  7. Caumul, R.; Polly, P. D. (2005). "Phylogenetic and environmental components of morphological variation: skull, mandible, and molar shape in marmots (Marmota, Rodentia)". Evolution 59 (11): 2460–2472. doi:10.1554/05-117.1. PMID 16396186. 
  8. Polly, P. D.; Eronen, J. T.; Fred, M.; Dietl, G. P.; Mossbrugger, V.; Scheidigger, C.; Frank, D. V.; Damuth, J. et al. (2011). "History matters: ecometrics and integrative climate change biology". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278 (1709): 1121–1130. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2233. PMID 21227966. 
  9. Polly, P. David (2008). "Developmental Dynamics and G-Matrices: Can Morphometric Spaces be Used to Model Phenotypic Evolution?". Evolutionary Biology 35 (83): 83–96. doi:10.1007/s11692-008-9020-0. Bibcode2008EvBio..35...83P. 
  10. Head, Jason J. (2009). "Giant boine snake from a Paleocene Neotropical rainforest indicates hotter past equatorial temperatures". Nature 457 (7230): 715–717. doi:10.1038/nature07671. PMID 19194448. 
  11. Kemp, Martin. "Titanoboa: Monster Snake". Smithsonian Institution. https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/titanoboa-monster-snake/0/140671. 
  12. Rowe, Timothy B.. "Students". University of Texas, Austin. http://www.geo.utexas.edu/faculty/rowe/students.htm. 
  13. "P. David Polly Curriculum Vitae". Indiana University. https://pollylab.indiana.edu/people/currentmembers/Polly-Cv.pdf. 
  14. "Alumni Fellow". University of Michigan. http://societyoffellows.umich.edu/alumni-fellows/. 
  15. "2021 AAAS Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. https://www.aaas.org/page/2021-fellows. 
  16. Schachter, Beth (14 Jan 1999). "With Minimalist Approach, Paleontology Is Brought to Life". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/14/technology/library-virtual-natural-history-museums-with-minimalist-approach-paleontology.html. 
  17. "Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Award Winners". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. http://vertpaleo.org/the-Society/Awards/Past-Award-Winners.aspx#gregoryaward. 
  18. "Leadership of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. http://vertpaleo.org/the-Society/Leadership.aspx. 
  19. Underwood, Emily (6 Dec 2017). "Why fossil scientists are suing Trump over monuments downsizing". Science 358 (6369): 1368. doi:10.1126/science.358.6369.1368. PMID 29242325. https://www.science.org/content/article/qa-why-fossil-scientists-are-suing-trump-over-monuments-downsizing. Retrieved 22 July 2018.