Dr Anjali Goswami

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Personal Profile

Name: Anjali Goswami Email: a.goswami@ucl.ac.uk
Title: Dr Tel: 020 7679 2190
Department: Genetics, Evolution & Environment Fax:
Position: Lecturer Address: Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Research Domain: Basic Life Sciences, Biomedical Imaging (Frontier Disciplines), Neuroscience Web Page: Personal Web Page

Profile

Research Description

I am currently a joint lecturer in palaeobiology at University College London in the Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment and the Department of Earth Sciences.  I am also affiliated with the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and serve as the director of the new MRes in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation.  Together with the Evans, Upchurch, and Chatterjee groups, I organise the ADaPTIVE (Anatomy, Diversity and Phylogeny: Trends in Vertebrate Evolution) inter-lab meetings at UCL.

Outside of UCL, I serve as  co-chair of the Scientific Program Committee and a member of the media response team for the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology.  I am also a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and a member of the editorial boards for PLoS One and the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.     

My main research interests are in mammalian evolution and development, especially using morphometric methods to incorporate data from embryos to fossils to test genetic and developmental hypotheses of modularity and morphological diversity.  I have previously focused on carnivoran evolution, but lately I have been researching these topics across other clades, as well as addressing these topics as they relate to the marsupial-placental dichotomy.  I am also currently working on the relationships and paleobiogeography of Mesozoic mammals, particularly focusing on Gondwanan eutherians. Relatedly, I am working on methods to assess evolutionary rates in multivariate (morphometric) characters for comparison with molecular rates of evolution, with relevance for the estimation of divergence times.

I currently conduct fieldwork in the Cretaceous of India and the Paleogene of Svalbard, but have previously been involved in fieldwork in Peru, Chile, Madagascar, and the United States.  I have also conducted palaeoecological research on Triassic amniotes and Eocene whales using dental microwear and stable isotopes. 


Research Activities

Mammalian evolution and development

Education Description

I conduct lectures in BIOL1006 (Life on Earth) and BIOL3018 (Vertebrate Life and Evolution).  I also teach on a mapping field course, GEOL2026 (Maps, Images, and Structures), co-organise a Master's seminar, GEOLM003 (Earth and Planetary Systems Science), a contribute to GEOL3036 (Biodiversity and Macroevolutionary Patterns).  I am the director of the new MRes in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation, in collaboration with the Insititute of Zoology and the Natural History Museum.

UCL Collaborators

Dr Charles Underwood; Dr Paul Upchurch; Dr Christophe Soligo

External Collaborators

Publications

    2013

    • Fabre AC, Cornette R, Slater G, Argot C, Peigné S, Goswami A, Pouydebat E (2013). Getting a grip on the evolution of grasping in musteloid carnivorans: a three-dimensional analysis of forelimb shape.. J Evol Biol, , - . doi:10.1111/jeb.12161
    • Bennett CV, Goswami A (2013). Statistical support for the hypothesis of developmental constraint in marsupial skull evolution.. BMC Biol, 11, 52 - . doi:10.1186/1741-7007-11-52
    • Goswami A, Foley L, Weisbecker V (2013). Patterns and implications of extensive heterochrony in carnivoran cranial suture closure.. J Evol Biol, 26(6), 1294 - 1306. doi:10.1111/jeb.12127
    • Pittman M, Gatesy SM, Upchurch P, Goswami A, Hutchinson JR (2013). Shake a tail feather: the evolution of the theropod tail into a stiff aerodynamic surface.. PLoS One, 8(5), e63115 - . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063115
    • Halliday TJ, Goswami A (2013). Testing the inhibitory cascade model in Mesozoic and Cenozoic mammaliaforms.. BMC Evol Biol, 13, 79 - . doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-79

    2012

    • Smaers JB, Dechmann DKN, Goswami A, Soligo C, Safi K (2012). Comparative analyses of evolutionary rates reveal different pathways to encephalization in bats, carnivorans, and primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, in press (available online), - .
    • Bennett CV, Goswami A (2012). Morphometric analysis of cranial shape in fossil and recent euprimates.. Anat Res Int, 2012, 478903 - . doi:10.1155/2012/478903
    • Goswami A (2012). A dating success story: genomes and fossils converge on placental mammal origins. BMC EvoDevo, 3, 18 - .
    • Goswami A, Prasad GV, Benson RB, Verma O, Flynn JJ (2012). NEW VERTEBRATES FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS KALLAMEDU FORMATION, CAUVERY BASIN, SOUTH INDIA, INCLUDING A TROODONTID DINOSAUR, A GONDWANATHERIAN MAMMAL, AND A SIMOSUCHUS-LIKE NOTOSUCHIAN CROCODYLIFORM.
    • Goswami A, Polly PD, Mock OB, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2012). Shape, variance and integration during craniogenesis: contrasting marsupial and placental mammals.. J Evol Biol, 25(5), 862 - 872. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02477.x

    2011

    • Bennett CV, Goswami A (2011). Does reproductive strategy drive limb integration in marsupials and monotremes?. Mammalian Biology, 76(79-83), - .
    • Underwood CJ, Goswami A, Prasad GVR, Verma O, Flynn JJ (2011). Marine vertebrates from the 'middle' Cretaceous (early Cenomanian) of South India. J VERTEBR PALEONTOL, 31(3), 539 - 552. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.574518
    • Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Prasad G, Boyer D, Goswami A (2011). A 3-D MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE LOCOMOTORY ECOLOGY OF DECCANOLESTES, A EUTHERIAN MAMMAL FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF INDIA. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, 31, 106 - 106.
    • Weisbecker V, Goswami A (2011). Marsupials indeed confirm an ancestral mammalian pattern: A reply to Isler. BIOESSAYS, 33(5), 358 - 361. doi:10.1002/bies.201100013
    • Goswami A, Milne N, Wroe S (2011). Biting through constraints: cranial morphology, disparity and convergence across living and fossil carnivorous mammals.. Proc Biol Sci, 278(1713), 1831 - 1839. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2031
    • Weisbecker V, Goswami A (2011). Neonatal maturity as the key to understanding brain size evolution in homeothermic vertebrates. BIOESSAYS, 33(3), 155 - 158. doi:10.1002/bies.201000128
    • McInnes L, Baker WJ, Barraclough TG, Dasmahapatra KK, Goswami A, Harmon LJ, Morlon H, Purvis A, Rosindell J, Thomas GH, Turvey ST, Phillimore AB (2011). Integrating ecology into macroevolutionary research.. Biol Lett, 7(5), 644 - 646. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0358
    • Goswami A, Prasad GVR, Upchurch P, Boyer DM, Seiffert ER, Verma O, Gheerbrant E, Flynn JJ (2011). A radiation of arboreal basal eutherian mammals beginning in the Late Cretaceous of India. P NATL ACAD SCI USA, 108(39), 16333 - 16338. doi:10.1073/pnas.1108723108
    • Bell E, Andres B, Goswami A (2011). Integration and dissociation of limb elements in flying vertebrates: a comparison of pterosaurs, birds and bats.. J Evol Biol, 24(12), 2586 - 2599. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02381.x
    • Hautier L, Weisbecker V, Goswami A, Knight F, Kardjilov N, Asher RJ (2011). Skeletal ossification and sequence heterochrony in xenarthran evolution. EVOL DEV, 13(5), 460 - 476. doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2011.00503.x
    • Verma O, Prasad GVR, Goswami A, Parmar V (2011). Ptychodus decurrens Agassiz (Elasmobranchii:Pychodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous of India. Cretaceous Research, 33, 183 - 188.

    2010

    • Goswami A, Upchurch P (2010). The dating game: a reply to Heads (2010). Zoologica Scripta, 39, 406 - 409.
    • Goswami A, Friscia A (2010). Carnivoran evolution: new views on phylogeny, form and function.
    • Goswami A (2010). Introduction to carnivoran evolution. In Goswami A, Friscia A (Ed.), Carnivoran evolution: new views on phylogeny, form and function (pp. 1 - 24). : Cambridge University Press.
    • Jones K, Goswami A (2010). Morphometric analysis of cranial shape in pinnipeds (Mammalia, Carnivora): convergence, ecology, ontogeny, and dimorphism. In Goswami A, Friscia A (Ed.), Carnivoran evolution: new views on phylogeny, form, and function (pp. 342 - 373). : Cambridge University Press.
    • Goswami A, Polly PD (2010). The influence of character correlations of phylogenetic analyses: a case study of the carnivoran cranium. In Goswami A, Friscia A (Ed.), Carnivoran evolution: new views on phylogeny, form, and function (pp. 141 - 164). : Cambridge University Press.
    • Prasad GVR, Verma O, Gheerbrant E, Goswami A, Khosla A, Parmar V, Sahni A (2010). First mammal evidence from the Late Cretaceous of India for biotic dispersal between India and Africa at the KT transition. CR PALEVOL, 9(1-2), 63 - 71. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2009.12.003
    • Goswami A, Polly PD (2010). The influence of modularity on cranial morphological disparity in Carnivora and Primates (Mammalia).. PLoS One, 5(3), e9517 - . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009517
    • Jones KE, Goswami A (2010). Quantitative analysis of the influences of phylogeny and ecology on phocid and otariid pinniped (Mammalia; Carnivora) cranial morphology. J ZOOL, 280(3), 297 - 308. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00662.x
    • GOSWAMI A, Polly PD (2010). Methods for studying morphological integration and modularity. In Alroy J, Hunt G (Ed.), Quantitative methods in paleobiology (pp. 213 - 243). : .
    • Hautier L, Weisbecker V, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Goswami A, Asher RJ (2010). Skeletal development in sloths and the evolution of mammalian vertebral patterning.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 107(44), 18903 - 18908. doi:10.1073/pnas.1010335107
    • Weisbecker V, Goswami A (2010). Brain size, life history, and metabolism at the marsupial/placental dichotomy.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 107(37), 16216 - 16221. doi:10.1073/pnas.0906486107
    • Boyer DM, Prasad GVR, Krause DW, Godinot M, Goswami A, Verma O, Flynn JJ (2010). New postcrania of Deccanolestes from the Late Cretaceous of India and their bearing on the evolutionary and biogeographic history of euarchontan mammals. NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN, 97(4), 365 - 377. doi:10.1007/s00114-010-0648-0

    2009

    • Goswami A, Weisbecker V, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2009). Developmental modularity and the marsupial-placental dichotomy.. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol, 312B(3), 186 - 195. doi:10.1002/jez.b.21283
    • Finarelli JA, Goswami A (2009). The evolution of orbit orientation and encephalization in the Carnivora (Mammalia).. J Anat, 214(5), 671 - 678. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01061.x

    2008

    • Prasad GVR, Singh K, Parmar V, Goswami A, Sudan CS (2008). Hybodont shark teeth from the continental Upper Triassic deposits of India. Mesozoic Fishes, 4, 413 - 432.
    • Sánchez-Villagra MR, Goswami A, Weisbecker V, Mock O, Kuratani S (2008). Conserved relative timing of cranial ossification patterns in early mammalian evolution. Evolution & Development, 10(5), 519 - 530.
    • Weisbecker V, Goswami A, Wroe S, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2008). Ossification heterochrony in the therian postcranial skeleton and the marsupial-placental dichotomy. Evolution, 59(12), 2691 - 2704.
    • Prasad GVR, Singh K, Parmar V, Goswami A, Sudan CS (2008). Hybodont shark teeth from the continental Upper Triassic deposits of India. In (Ed.), Mesozoic Fishes IV (pp. 413 - 432). : .
    • Goswami A (2008). Carnivoran Evolution. In (Ed.), McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology (pp. - ). : .
    • Butler RJ, Goswami A (2008). Body size evolution in Mesozoic birds: little evidence for Cope's rule.. J Evol Biol, 21(6), 1673 - 1682. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01594.x

    2007

    • Sears KE, Goswami A, Flynn JJ, Niswander L (2007). The correlated evolution of Runx2 tandem repeats and facial length in Carnivora. Evolution and Development, 9(6), 555 - 565.
    • Goswami A (2007). Phylogeny, diet, and cranial integration in australodelphian marsupials.. PLoS One, 2(10), e995 - . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000995
    • Prochel J, Goswami A, Carmona FD, Jimenez R (2007). Ossification sequence in the mole Talpa occidentalis (Eulipotyphyla, Talpidae) and comparisons with other mammals. Mammalian Biology, 73, 399 - 403.
    • Goswami A (2007). Cranial modularity and sequence heterochrony in mammals.. Evol Dev, 9(3), 290 - 298. doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2007.00161.x
    • Goswami A, Prochel J (2007). Ontogenetic morphology and allometry of the cranium in the common European mole (Talpa europaea). Journal of Mammalogy, 88(3), 667 - 677.

    2006

    • Goswami A (2006). Cranial modularity shifts during mammalian evolution.. Am Nat, 168(2), 270 - 280. doi:10.1086/505758
    • Antoine PO, DeFrancheschi D, Flynn JJ, Nel A, Baby P, Benammi M, Calderon Y, Espurt N, Goswami A, Salas-Gismondi R (2006). Western Amazonian Miocene amber with multiple organic inclusions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, 103, 13595 - 13600.
    • Goswami A (2006). Morphological integration in the carnivoran skull.. Evolution, 60(1), 169 - 183.
    • Clementz MT, Goswami A, Gingerich PD, Koch PL (2006). Reconstructing the ecology of early marine mammals using stable isotopes. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26, 355 - 370.
    • Giannini N, Goswami A, Sanchez-Villagra MR (2006). Development of integumentary structures in Rousettus amplexicaudatus (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) during late-embryonic and fetal stages. Journal of Mammalogy, 87, 993 - 1001.

    2005

    • Goswami A, Flynn JJ, Ranivororharimanana L, Wyss AR (2005). Dental microwear in Triassic amniotes: implications for paleoecology and masticatory mechanics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25, 320 - 329.

    • Benson RBJ, Mannion PD, Butler RJ, Upchurch P, Goswami A, Evans S (). Cretaceous tetrapod fossil record sampling and faunal turnover: implications for biogeography and the rise of modern clades. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, in press, - .