Carlo Meloro
Functional Morphology and Evolution Unit
The
Loxley Building
Cottingham Road
Tel: 01482 465371
Fax: 01482 466497
Email: carlo.meloro@hyms.ac.uk
Dr Carlo Meloro
Mammal Ecology and Environments Group
Dr Carlo Meloro
Mammal Ecology and Environments Group
Research Interest
Eco-morphology and evolutionary history of mammalian carnivores. Geometric morphometrics and comparative methods. Macroecology of mammalian communities during Plio-Pleistocene in the
Current Projects
'Taxon-free palaeontological methods for reconstructing environmental change'. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust 2007–2010.
The main task of my work is to clarify eco-morphology of extant mammalian carnivores in order to make predictions on paleobiology of Plio-Pleistocene East African species. I am focusing on the morphological variability of long bones which could be useful to determine habitat adaptations in extant as well as extinct species.
Teeth, mandible and skull features are considered as well to give inside on feeding ecology of East African Plio-Pleistocene carnivores.
‘Mandible shape in extant fissiped Carnivora’
Members of the order Carnivora exhibit a remarkable morphological variability in the mandible shape as the result of a complex evolutionary history and functional adaptations. I am focusing on terrestrial (fissiped) taxa in order to explain what are the main determinants of mandible shape.
2D geometric morphometric is involved in quantifying mandible shape. Comparative methods are considered to figure out the role of phylogenetic history in determining mandible shape.
Past and ongoing projects
‘The evolution of feeding habits in extinct European carnivores’
The aim of this project was to explore the shape of the mandibular corpus in European carnivores in a complete evolutionary context. Fossil specimens have been considered to understand how species’ feeding ecology changed through time. Two SYNTHESYS grants (ES TAF – 858 and FR TAF – 1680) supported my research visits to the Museo Nacional de Ciencias of
‘Macroecology of Italian Plio-Pleistocene large mammal communities’
This project aim was to clarify the evolution of large mammal communities in the Italian peninsula toward Ice Ages covering 3.5 until 0.3 Ma. Faunal lists were used to analyse patterns of species abundance in time and relationships between predators and their prey. The project was basically driven by Doct. Pasquale Raia (as part of him Ph.D thesis) together with Prof.ssa Carmela Barbera and Prof. Anastassios Kotsakis.
Publications
Meloro C., Raia P., Piras P., Barbera C., O’Higgins P. (in press) The shape of the mandibular corpus in large fissiped carnivores: allometry, function and phylogeny. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Meloro C., Raia P., Barbera C. (2007) Effect of predation on prey abundance and survival in Plio-Pleistocene mammalian communities. Evolutionary Ecology Research 9(3): 505-525.
Raia P., Meloro C., Barbera C. (2007) Inconstancy in predator/prey ratio in Quaternary large mammal communities with an appraisal of mechanisms. Quaternary Research 67: 255-263.
Raia P., Meloro C, Loy A., Barbera C. (2006) Species occupancy and its course in the past: macroecological patterns in extinct communities. Evolutionary Ecology Research 8: 181-194.
Meloro C., Raia P., Barbera C. (2006) Grotta Milano: una trappola per carnivori sui Monti Alburni. L`Appennino Meridionale 3(1): 71-79.
Meloro C., Esposito E., Barbera C. (2004) Note paleo-ecologiche sulla Grotta della
Abstracts and conferences
Meloro C. (2008) Feeding ecology in Plio-Pleistocene large carnivores: a geometric morphometric approach. 19-20 April. Quaver meeting York.
Meloro C. (2007) La fauna Quaternaria di Grotta Milano (Petina, Salerno). Atti I Convegno Regionale di Speleologia “Campania Speleologica” 1-3 giugno 2007 Oliveto Citra: 75-83.
Meloro C. (2007) Paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene large carnivore guild: a geometric morphometrics approach. 2-3 April, Quaver meeting UCL,
Barbera C., Raia P., Meloro C. (2006) I mammiferi di Melpignano conservati presso il Museo di Paleontologia di Napoli. Thalassia Salentina 29 suppl: 237-243.
Meloro C. (2004) Diversity patterns in Quaternary large mammals communities from