Summary
See my lab webpage for more details.
How do new morphological traits evolved and what were the larger consequences of these innovations to biodiversity? To get at this problem my research explores the evolutionary foundations of modern vertebrate anatomy using the fossil record and modern phylogenetic tools. My research looks to the fossils early vertebrates from the Palaeozoic Era (approx. 540 to 250 million years ago) to reconstruct the evolutionary assembly of major features of vertebrate anatomy, such as the skull and jaws, paired appendages, and hard tissues.
Publications
Journals
Brazeau M, Castiello M, El Fassi El Fehri A, et al., 2023, Fossil evidence for a pharyngeal origin of the vertebrate pectoral girdle, Nature, Vol:623, ISSN:0028-0836, Pages:550-554
Lopez-Romero FA, Stumpf S, Kamminga P, et al., 2023, Shark mandible evolution reveals patterns of trophic and habitat-mediated diversification, Communications Biology, Vol:6, ISSN:2399-3642
Brazeau MDD, Yuan H, Giles S, et al., 2023, A well-preserved 'placoderm' (stem-group Gnathostomata) upper jaw from the Early Devonian of Mongolia clarifies jaw evolution, Royal Society Open Science, Vol:10, ISSN:2054-5703
Dearden RP, den Blaauwen JL, Sansom IJ, et al., 2021, A revision of Vernicomacanthus Miles with comments on the characters of stem-group chondrichthyans, Papers in Palaeontology, Vol:7, ISSN:2056-2799, Pages:1949-1976
Brazeau MD, Giles S, Dearden RP, et al., 2020, Endochondral bone in an early devonian ‘placoderm’ from Mongolia, Nature Ecology and Evolution, Vol:4, ISSN:2397-334X, Pages:1477-1484