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email:  bvanval@ucla.edu
phone:  (310) 794-9398
office:  LS 5312
lab:  

research interests:  Paleobiology, ecology, and functional morphology of vertebrates

Research Interests

The questions which interest me are both ecological and evolutionary, and I approach them from the perspective of a paleobiologist and functional morphologist. My organisms of choice are vertebrates, particularly mammals. In several studies, I explored the effects of competition, prey diversity and environment on predator morphologies within past and present communities. In this work, I used the tools of biomechanics to infer critical aspects of carnivore feeding and locomotor behavior from skeletal and dental morphology. For example, quantitative indices of claw shape, limb proportions, joint mechanics and body size were used to determine locomotor behavior. Similar indices describing relative tooth size and shape indicated dietary content among living and extinct predators. Based on these morphologic indices of behavior, I was able to compare the pattern of ecological separation among coexisting carnivores in several ancient and modern communities, all of which differed in prey diversity and/or vegetation structure. Future work will expand the array of time periods sampled and attempt to follow the course of morphological divergence within a single community over several million years. Most recently, I completed an analysis of tooth fracture frequencies in the large carnivores of the Pleistocene Rancho La Brea tarpits. Comparisons with a sample of modern carnivores, such as hyenas and wolves, revealed that the big meat-eaters of the tar pits suffered up to five times more tooth breakage. Apparently, the now extinct dire wolves, American lions, and sabertooth cats, were forced to consume their kills more fully, chewing the bones, and thereby injuring their teeth. Carnivores eat more bone when prey are difficult to acquire and thus the high tooth fracture frequencies suggest competition for food was more intense ten to thirty thousand years ago. Studies underway include an exploration of the growth and development of bite strength in members of a captive population of spotted hyenas, analysis of feeding behavior in large African carnivores, and further studies of tooth fracture frequencies in additional mammalian species.

Selected Publications

Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Costs of carnivory: tooth fracture in Pleistocene and Recent carnivorans Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 96: 68-81 .

Carbone, C., Maddox, T., Funston, P.J., Mills, M.G.L., Grether, G. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Parallels between playbacks and Pleistocene tar seeps suggest sociality in an extinct sabretooth cat, Smilodon Biology Letters 5: 81-85 .

Samuels, J. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Craniodental adaptations for digging in extinct burrowing beavers Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29: 254-268 .

Roemer, G., Gompper, M. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. The ecological role of the mammalian mesocarnivore Bioscience 59: 165-173 .

Meachen-Samuels, J. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Forelimb indicators of prey-size preference in the Felidae Journal of Morphology 270: 729-744 .

Slater, G.J., Dumont, E.R. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Implications of predatory specialization for cranial form and function in canids Journal of Zoology 278: 181-188 .

Meachen-Samuels, J. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2009. Craniodental indicators of prey size preference in the Felidae Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 96: 784-799 .

Van Valkenburgh, B., Maddox, T., Funston, P.J., Mills, M.G.L., Grether, G. and Carbone, C.. 2009. Sociality in Rancho La Brea Smilodon: arguments favour ‘evidence’ over coincidence’ Biology Letters 5: 563-564 .

Slater, G. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2008. Long in the tooth: evolution of sabertooth cat cranial shape Paleobiology 34: 403-419 .

Samuels, J. and Van Valkenburgh, B.. 2008. Skeletal indicators of locomotor adaptations in living and extinct rodents Journal of Morphology 269: 1397-1411 .