Paul
Barrett is an honorary member of the Evans lab but is otherwise
based at the Natural History Museum where he is a researcher
of dinosaurs and other fossil reptiles.
Profile: 1993 BA (Hons) Natural Sciences, Zoology (University of Cambridge) 1998 PhD, Earth Sciences (University of Cambridge). 1996-1999 Junior Research Fellow. (Trinity College,
University of Cambridge). 1999-2003 Lecturer in Animal Diversity (University of Oxford). 2003-present Researcher - dinosaurs and fossil reptiles
(The Natural History Museum, London).
Research
My research
is centred on the taxonomy, systematics, functional morphology
and macroevolution of dinosaurs and other extinct amniotes. Research
is concentrated in three main areas:
Pattern
and process in macroevolution. Controls on dinosaur and pterosaur
diversity through time and space, including the influence
of the rock record on modelled diversity patterns; multidisciplinary
testing of plant–dinosaur co-evolutionary scenarios (using
a novel application of Geographical Information Systems); clade-clade
interactions through time; correlated progression; and the
possible effects of changing atmospheric CO2 concentrations
on the evolution
of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems.
Functional
morphology, palaeobiology and palaeoecology of sauropodomorph
and ornithischian
dinosaurs, relating primarily to feeding mechanisms.
A second project that is currently underway, in conjunction with
Dr Susannah Maidment, involves evaluating
why some ornithischians become secondarily quadrupedal.
Taxonomic,
systematic and faunal revisions of dinosaurs from the Middle
Jurassic
and Early Cretaceous of the UK, the Lower
Jurassic
and Early Cretaceous of the People’s Republic of China,
the Lower Cretaceous of Australia and the Lower Jurassic
of South Africa
and Lesotho. In addition, other projects that I am involved
in concern varanid lizards from the Pleistocene of Australia,
a stem
turtle from the Isle of Skye and marine reptiles from the
British Lower Cretaceous.
Current
non-NHM collaborators:
Dr Matthew Carrano (Smithsonian
Institution), Prof. Susan Evans (UCL), Dr Jason Head (Univ. Toronto),
Dr Ben Kear (La Trobe Univ., Melbourne), Prof. Geoff Manley (Technical
Univ., Munich), Dr David Norman (Univ. Cambridge), Dr Tomoyuki
Ohashi (Univ. Tokyo), Dr Mark Purnell (Univ. Leicester), Dr Oliver
Rauhut (BSPG, Munich), Dr Emily Rayfield (Univ. Bristol), Dr Paul
Upchurch (UCL), Prof. Wang Xiao-Lin (IVPP, Beijing), Dr Matthew
Wills (Univ. Bath), Dr Jeffery Wilson (Univ. Michigan), Prof. Larry
Witmer (Univ. Ohio), Prof. Xu Xing (IVPP, Beijing), Dr Adam Yates
(BPI, Johannesburg) and Zhou Xiao-Dan (MGSJ, Nanjing).
Current and recent postdocs:
Dr Richard Butler (2006-2008, dinosaur plant co-evolution: NERC
funded).
Dr Stig Walsh (2007-2008, reptile and bird inner ear morphology:
NERC funded).
Dr Richard Butler (2008-2009, evolution of archosaur postcranial
pneumaticity: NERC funded).
Dr Susannah
Maidment (2009-, evolution of ornithischian quadrupedality, NERC
funded).
Current postgraduate
students: Debi Linton (UCL, ornithischian morphological evolution:
NERC CASE, with Dr P Upchurch),
Vince Williams (Univ.
Leicester, dinosaur dental microwear: self-funded, with Dr M Purnell),
Phil Mannion (UCL, sauropod fossil record: NERC); and Rosie Barnes
(UCL, titanosaur phylogeny: NERC CASE, with Dr P Upchurch).
Recently completed
postgraduate students: Roger Benson (Univ. Cambridge, Jurassic
UK theropods: NERC CASE, with Dr D Norman), Jolyon Parish (DPhil,
Univ. Oxford, ankylosaur phylogeny), Rudyard Sadleir (MSc, Univ.
Oxford, the theropod Eustreptospondylus), Julia Heathcote (MRes,
Imperial College London, dinosaur fossil record), Susannah Maidment
(PhD, Univ. Cambridge, stegosaur phylogeny), Mark Young (Univ.
Bristol, Finite Element Analysis of sauropod skulls: NERC CASE,
with Drs E Rayfield, P Upchurch and L Witmer); Jérémy
Anquetin (UCL, stem turtle phylogeny: NHM Studentship, with Prof.
S Evans and Dr M Wilkinson).
Selected
publications
Müller
J, Scheyer TM, Head JJ, Barrett PM,
Werneburg I,
Ericson PGP, Pol D, Sánchez-Villagra M
R. 2010. Homeotic effects,
somitogenesis and the evolution of vertebral numbers in recent
and fossil
amniotes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
USA 107,
21182123. DOI:
10.1073/pnas.0912622107
Manning
PL, Margetts L, Johnson MR, Withers PJ, Sellers WI, Falkingham
PL, Mummery PM, Barrett PM, Raymont DR.
2009. Biomechanics of dromaeosaurid dinosaur claws: application
of
X-Ray microtomography, nanoindentation, and finite element
analysis. Anatomical Record 291:1397–1405. Weblink
Barrett
PM. 2009. The affinities of the enigmatic dinosaur Eshanosaurus deguchiianus from
the Early Jurassic of Yunnan Province, People's
Republic of China. Palaeontology 52: 681688. DOI 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00887
Barrett
PM, Han
F-L. 2009. Cranial anatomy of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria:
Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of
China. Zootaxa 2072: 3155. Weblink
Barrett
PM, McGowan AJ, Page
V. 2009. Dinosaur diversity and the rock record. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,
Series B 276:
26672674. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0352
Butler RJ, Barrett
PM, Gower DJ.
2009. Postcranial pneumaticity and bird-like air-sacs in the earliest pterosaurs. Biology
Letters 5:
557560. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0139
Butler RJ,
Barrett PM, Kenrick P, Penn
MG. 2009. Testing co-evolutionary hypotheses over
geological timescales: interactions between Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs and cycads. Biological Reviews 84:
7389. DOI 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00065.x
Butler
RJ, Barrett PM, Kenrick P, Penn
MG. 2009. Diversity patterns amongst herbivorous
dinosaurs and plants during the Cretaceous:
implications for hypotheses of dinosaur/angiosperm co-evolution.
Journal of
Evolutionary Biology 22: 446459. DOI 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01680.x
Butler RJ,
Barrett PM, Nowbath S, Upchurch
P. In press.Estimating the effects of the rock record on pterosaur
diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement. Paleobiology 35: 432-446. Weblink
Rayfield
EJ, Barrett PM, Milner
AR. 2009. Utility and validity
of Middle and Late Triassic 'Land Vertebrate Faunachrons'.
Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 29: 8087. DOI:
10.1671/039.029.0132
Williams
VS, Barrett PM, Purnell MA. 2009.
Quantitative analysis
of dental microwear in hadrosaurid dinosaurs, and the implications
for
hypotheses of jaw mechanics and feeding. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, USA 106: 1119411199. Weblink
Head
JJ, Barrett PM, Rayfield EJ. 2009. Neurocranial
osteology and systematic relationships of Varanus (Megalania)
prisca Owen, 1859 (Squamata: Varanidae).
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155: 445–457. DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00448.x
Barrett
PM, Butler RJ, Xiao-Lin W, Xing X. 2009. Cranial
anatomy of the iguanodontoid ornithopod Jinzhousaurus
yangi from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian
Formation of China. Acta
Palaeontologica Polonica 54: 35–-48. http://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app54-035.html
Walsh, S.
A., Barrett, P. M., Milner, A. C., Manley,
G., Witmer L. M. 2009. Inner ear anatomy is a proxy for deducing
auditory capability and behaviour in reptiles and birds. Proceedings
of the Royal Society B DOI:
10.1098/rspb.2008.1390
Anquetin
J, Barrett
PM, Jones MEH, Moore-Fay S, Evans
SE. 2009. A new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic
of Scotland: new insights into the evolution and palaeoecology
of basal turtles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B
276: 879–886. DOI:
10.1098/rspb.2008.1429
Barrett,
P. M., Butler, R. J., Novas, F. E., Moore-Fay, S.,
Moody, J. M.,
Clark, J. M. & Sánchez-Villagra, M. R. 2008. Dinosaur
remains from the La
Quinta Formation (Lower or Middle Jurassic) of the Venezuelan
Andes.
Paläontologische Zeitschrift 82: 163177.
Butler,
R. J. & Barrett, P. M. 2008. Palaeoenvironmental
controls on the
distribution of Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaurs. Naturwissenschaften 95:
10271032.
Maidment,
S. C. R., Norman, D. B., Barrett, P. M. & Upchurch,
P. 2008.
Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia).
Journal
of Systematic Palaeontology 6: 367407. DOI: 10.1017/S1477201908002459
Wills, M.
A., Barrett, P. M. & Heathcote, J. F. 2008. The
stratigraphic
congruence of dinosaur phylogenies and the Modified Gap
Excess Ration
(GER*). Systematic Biology 57: 891904.
Sadleir,
R. W., Barrett, P. M. & Powell,
H. P. 2008. The anatomy and systematics of Eustreptospondylus
oxoniensis, a theropod dinosaur from the Middle
Jurassic of Oxfordshire, England. Palaeontographical
Society Monographs 160 (number 627): 1–82 + 20 pls.
Barrett,
P. M. & Batten,
D. J. (eds) 2007. Evolution and palaeobiology
of early sauropodomorph
dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology,
77, 289 pp.
Barrett, P. M. and
Upchurch, P. 2007. The evolution of herbivory in sauropodomorph
dinosaurs. 91–112.
In (Barrett, P. M. & Batten D. J., eds).
Evolution and palaeobiology of early sauropodomorph
dinosaurs.
Special Papers in Palaeontology, 77.
Upchurch, P., Barrett, P. M. & Galton, P.
M. 2007. A phylogenetic analysis of basal sauropodomorph
relationships: implications for the origin of sauropod
dinosaurs. 57-90. In (Barrett, P. M. & Batten
D. J., eds). Evolution and palaeobiology of early
sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Special Papers
in Palaeontology,
77.
Upchurch,
P., Barrett, P. M.,
Zhao, X.-J. & Xu,
X. 2007. A re-evaluation of Chinshakiangosaurus
chunghoensis Ye vide Dong 1992 (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha):
implications for cranial evolution in basal sauropod
dinosaurs. Geological Magazine 144: 247–262. DOI:
10.1017/S0016756806003062
Zhao, Q., Barrett,
P. M. & Eberth, D. A. 2007.
Social behaviour and mass mortality in the basal
ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus (Early Cretaceous,
People’s Republic of China). Palaeontology 50: 1023–1029. Ingenta
web link
Barrett,
P. M. 2006. A sauropod dinosaur tooth
from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Transactions
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Earth Sciences),
97, 25-29. Cambridge
Journals Link
Barrett, P. M. & Evans,
S. E. (eds) 2006. Ninth International Symposium
on Mesozoic Terrestrial
Ecosystems and Biota. The Natural History
Museum, London. 187 pp.
Barrett, P. M. & Hilton,
J. 2006. The Jehol Biota (Lower Cretaceous, China):
new discoveries
and future prospects. Integrative Zoology,
1, 15-17.
Barrett,
P. M. & Rayfield,
E. J. 2006. Dinosaur feeding: recent advances
and evolutionary implications.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21, 217-224. DOI:
10.1016/j.tree.2006.01.002
Barrett, P. M. & Yates,
A. M. 2006. New information on the palate and lower
jaw of Massospondylus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha). Palaeontologia
Africana, 41,
123-130.
Evans, S.
E., Barrett, P. M.,
Hilton, J., Butler, R. J., Jones, M. E. H., Liang, M.-M.,
Parish,
J. C., Rayfield, E. J., Sigogneau-Russell, D. & Underwood,
C. J. 2006. The Middle Jurassic vertebrate
assemblage of Skye, Scotland. 36–39. In (Barrett,
P. M.
and Evans, S. E., eds). Ninth International Symposium
on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biotas.
Natural History Museum, London, 187 pp. Full
chapter [pdf: 5334kb]
Manning,
P. L., Payne, D., Pennicott, J., Barrett, P. M. & Ennos,
R. 2006. Dinosaur killer claws or climbing
crampons? Biology Letters,
2, 110-112. DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0395
Barrett,
P. M. 2005. The diets of ostrich dinosaurs
(Theropoda: Ornithomimosauria). Palaeontology,
48, 347–358. DOI:
10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00448.x
Barrett, P. M. & Upchurch,
P. 2005. Sauropod diversity through time: possible
macroevolutionary
and palaeoecological implications. 125-156.
In Curry-Rogers, K. A. and Wilson, J. A. (eds).
The Sauropods: evolution and paleobiology. University
of California Press, Berkeley, 349 pp.
Barrett,
P. M. & Xu, X. 2005. A re-assessment
of Dianchungosaurus lufengensis Yang, 1982, an
enigmatic reptile from the Lower Lufeng Formation
(Lower Jurassic) of Yunnan Province, People’s
Republic of China. Journal of Paleontology, 79,
981–986. Bioone
web link
Barrett,
P. M.,
Butler, R. J. & Knoll,
F. 2005. Small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs
from
the Middle Jurassic of Sichuan, China. Journal
of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25, 823-834. DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0823:SODFTM]2.0.CO;2
Barrett,
P. M.,
Upchurch, P. & Wang, X.-L.
2005. Cranial osteology of Lufengosaurus
huenei Young (Dinosauria: Prosauropoda) from the Lower
Jurassic of Yunnan, People’s Republic of
China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25,
806-822. DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0806:COOLHY]2.0.CO;2
Isaji, S., Okazaki, H., Hirayama,
Matsuoka, H., Barrett, P. M.,
Tsubamoto, T., Yamaguchi, M.,
Yamaguchi, I. & Sakumoto, T. 2005. Depositional
environments and taphonomy of the bone-bearing
beds of the Lower
Cretaceous Kuwajima Formation, Tetori Group,
Japan. Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum
of Natural History
and Human History, Series A (Natural History),
3, 123-133.
Rayfield,
E. J., Barrett, P. M.,
McDonnell, R. A. & Willis, K. J. 2005.
A Geographical Information Systems (GIS) study
of Triassic vertebrate biochronology.
Geological Magazine, 142, 327-354. DOI:
10.1017/S001675680500083X Supplementary
information relating to this publication, including spreadsheets
on Triassic
tetrapod occurrences,
can be downloaded by clicking here
Upchurch,
P. & Barrett, P.
M. 2005. A phylogenetic perspective
on sauropod diversity. 104-124. In
Curry-Rogers, K. A. and Wilson, J. A. (eds).
The Sauropods: evolution and paleobiology. University
of California Press, Berkeley, 349 pp.
Barrett,
P. M. 2004. Sauropodomorph dinosaur diversity
in the upper Elliot Formation (Massospondylus range zone: Lower Jurassic) of South Africa. South African
Journal of Science, 100, 501-503.
Day, J.
J. & Barrett, P. M. 2004. Material
referred to Megalosaurus (Dinosauria: Theropoda)
from the Middle Jurassic of Stonesfield, Oxfordshire,
England: one taxon or two? Proceedings of
the Geologists’ Association,
115, 359-366. Ingenta
weblink
Evans, S.
E., Barrett, P. M. & Ward,
D. J. 2004. The first record of amphibians and reptiles
from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous:
Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, England. Proceedings of the
Geologists’ Association, 115, 239-247. Ingenta
web link
Ketchum.
H. F. & Barrett, P.
M. 2004. New reptile material from the Lower
Triassic of Madagascar:
implications for the P/T extinction event. Canadian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 41, 1-8.
Parish,
J. C. & Barrett, P. M. 2004. A reappraisal
of the ornithischian dinosaur ‘Amtosaurus
magnus’ Kurzanov and Tumanova 1978,
with comments on the status of ‘A’. archibaldi Averianov 2002. Canadian
Journal of Earth Sciences,
41, 299-306.
Upchurch, P., Barrett,
P. M. & Dodson, P.
2004. Sauropoda. 259-322. In Weishampel, D. B.,
Dodson, P. and Osmólska, H. (eds). The
Dinosauria (Second Edition). University of California
Press,
Berkeley, 861 pp.
Upchurch,
P., Tomida, Y. & Barrett,
P. M. 2004. A new specimen of Apatosaurus
ajax (Sauropoda:
Diplodocidae) from the Morrison Formation (Upper
Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA. National Science
Museum Monographs, 26, 1-108 + 10 pls.
Weishampel, D. B., Barrett, P.
M., Coria, R. A., Le Loeuff, J.,
Xu, X., Zhao, X-J., Sahni, A., Gomani,
E. M. P. & Noto, C. R. 2004. Dinosaur Distribution.
517-606. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. and Osmólska,
H. (eds). The Dinosauria (Second Edition).
University of California Press, Berkeley, 861
pp.
Zhou, Z-H., Barrett,
P. M. & Hilton,
J. 2003. An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous
terrestrial
ecosystem. Nature, 421, 807-814. DOI:
10.1038/nature01420
A photo
of Paul siting on a petrified tree trunk (Araucarioxylon
arizonicum)
in the
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
A
photo of Paul with Jason Hilton (University of Birmingham) on
field work on Skye in Scotland, UK
This website is
managed by Marc Jones. If there are any problems, please e-mail
or phone 7679 7698 (int. 37698)
Page last updated
5 February, 2010
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