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Natalia Rybczynski

Natalia Rybczynski

Natalia Rybczynski

Research Scientist, Earth Sciences
Research Services
Tel.: 613.566.2462
Fax: 613.364.4027
Email: nrybczynski@mus-nature.ca

Education

  • Ph.D., Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, USA., 2003.
  • M.Sc., Zoology, University of Toronto, Canada, 1996.
  • B.Sc. Highest Honours, Integrated Science Studies, Carleton University, Canada, 1994.

Specialties

Research addresses three major conceptual areas:

  • (1) evolutionary functional morphology associated with major evolutionary transitions,
  • (2) relationships between morphological and behavioural evolution,
  • (3) relationship between climate and evolution at Polar latitudes.

Investigative approaches are varied and include field work, biomechanics, anatomical dissection, paleontology, animation modeling, behavioral observation, and phylogenetics.

Note to prospective students: Although vertebrates form a major focus of this research, research on other organisms that falls within these conceptual areas is welcome.

 

3D virtual model of Miocene fossil pinniped
3D virtual model of Miocene fossil pinniped from Haughton Crater,
Devon Island (Nunavut)

Projects

Some current project topics:

  • Functional morphology and evolution of “niche construction traits” in beavers (e.g., woodcutting).
  • Functional morphology and evolution of mammals adapted to life in water (e.g., beavers, otters, seals).
  • Feeding kinematics in herbivorous dinosaurs and early synapsids.
  • Ecosystems, landscapes and climate change in the Neogene High Arctic.

 

Rybczynski collecting fossil leaves on Ellesmere Island
Collecting fossil leaves on Ellesmere Island

 

Professional Services

  • Adjunct research professor with:
    Biology, Carleton University
    Earth Sciences, Carleton University

  • Scientific society affiliations:
    Canadian Society of Zoologists, 2007-
    Sigma Xi, 1998-
    Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 1995-
    Society of Systematic Biologists, 1995-
    Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1995-
    The Paleontological Association, 1995-

Students

  • Current graduate students
    Joanne Northover
    Master’s program, Earth Science.
    Topic: Postcranial anatomy and functional morphology of a new Miocene carnivore from the Canadian High Arctic.

    Travis Mitchell
    Master’s program, Earth Science.
    Topic: Using modern analogues to investigate a hypothesized Tertiary beaver-pond site.

  • Current undergraduate students
    Merissa Thompson
    Honours project, Biology.
    Topic: Functional morphology and evolution of the tail in North American porcupine.

    Simon Mattioli
    Honours project, Biology.
    Topic: Investigation of forelimb musculature and skeletal morphology in the River otter.

  • Research group alumni

    2008-2009
    Travis Mitchell
    Honours project, Earth Sciences.
    Topic: A Pliocene lagomorph from the Canadian High Arctic

    Felicia St-Louis
    Honours project, Biology.
    Topic: Material properties of biocomposite in beaver tail

    2007-2008
    Derek Boyd
    Independent study, Integrated Science Studies (INSC 3909).
    Title: Material properties of biocomposite in beaver tail

    Kristin Clark
    Independent study, Environmental Studies (ENST 4907)
    Title: How beavers modify ecosystems

    Dmitri Ponomarenko M.Sc.
    M.Sc thesis, Earth Sciences.
    Title: Burrow morphology, burrow preservation, and evidence of
    digging behaviour in ground-dwelling squirrels (Sciuridae)
    Currently: employed at Geological Survey of Canada

    Karyne Bellehumeur, B.Sc.H.
    Research assistant.
    Title: Kinematics of beaver swimming
    Currently: graduate studies at University of Ottawa

    Michael Arsenault
    Research assistant.
    Title: Kinematics of beaver swimming
    Currently: finishing B.Sc. degree

    2006-2007
    Elizabeth Ross, B.Sc.H.
    Honours thesis project, Earth Sciences.
    Title: A geometric morphometric reevaluation of the validity of the genus Sinocastor Rodentia: Castoridae)

    2005-2006
    Kristin I. Hynes, B.Sc.H.
    Honours thesis project, Earth Sciences.
    Title: The evolution of the grooming claw in Castoridae
    Currently: finishing M.Sc. of Entomology at University of Manitoba

Links

 

Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Nunavut
View of Haughton Crater, Devon Island (Nunavut)

Publications

  • Murray, A.M., Cumbaa, S.L., Harington, C.R., Smith, G.R. and Rybczynski, N. (2009). Early Pliocene Fish Remains from Arctic Canada Support a Pre-Pleistocene Dispersal of Percids (Teleostei: Perciformes). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 46: 557-570.

  • Rybczynski, N., Dawson, M.R. and Tedford, R.H. (2009). A Semi-aquatic Arctic Mammalian Carnivore from the Miocene Epoch and Origin of Pinnipedia. Nature 458: 1021-1024.

  • Rybczynski, N. (2008). Woodcutting Behavior in Beavers (Castoridae, Rodentia): Estimating Ecological Performance in a Modern and a Fossil Taxon. Palaeobiology 34(3): 389-402.

  • Rybczynski, N., Tirabasso, A., Cuthbertson, R. and Holliday, C. (2008). A 3D Animation Model of Edmontosaurus (Hadrosauridae) Skull for Testing Chewing Hypotheses. Paleontologica Electronica 11(2):1-14.
    http://palaeo-electronica.org/2008_2/132/index.html (Web site consulted November 19, 2008)

  • Rybczynski, N. (2007). Castorid Phylogenetics: Implications for the Evolution of Swimming and Tree Exploitation in Beavers. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 14: 1-35.

  • Vavrek, M.J., Larsson, H.C.E., Rybczynski, N. (2007). A Late Triassic Flora from East-Central Axel-Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44: 1653-1659.

  • Ballantyne, A.P., Rybczynski, N. Baker, P. Harington, C.R., White, D. (2006). Pliocene Arctic Temperature Constraints from the Growth Rings and Isotopic Composition of Fossil Larch Wood. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 242 (3,4): 188-200.

  • Korth, W.W. and Rybczynski, N. (2003). A New Unusual Castorid (Rodentia) from the Earliest Miocene of Nebraska. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3): 667-675.

  • Rybczynski, N. and Reisz, R.R. (2001). Earliest Evidence for Efficient Oral Processing in a Terrestrial Herbivore. Nature 411: 684-687.

  • Rybczynski, N. and Vickaryous, M.K. (2001). Evidence of Complex Jaw Movement in the Late Cretaceous Ankylosaurid, Euoplocephalus tutus (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) pp. 299-317 In Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

  • Modesto, S. and Rybczynski, N. (2000). A Review of the Late Permian Amniote Faunas of Russia. pp. 17-33 In Benton, M.J., Kurochkin, E.N., Novikov, I.V., Shishkin, M.A. and Unwin, S.M. (eds), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia: Fossil vertebrates from the Permian and Mesozoic of the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

  • Rybczynski, N. (2000). Cranial Anatomy and Phylogenetic Position of the Basal Anomodont (Therapsida), Suminia getmanovi. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 130 (3): 329-373.