D. Jade Simon

Background

About D. Jade Simon

I am currently investigating several questions concerning the ecology and behaviour of theropod dinosaurs and their modern avian descendants. I'm especially interested in ecomorphology, the connection between an animal's anatomy and ecology, and am researching how modern birds use their bodies to move through – and interact with – their environment. Since birds have a highly specialized forearm (the wing) they must rely primarily on their beaks, legs, and feet to climb, wade, run, grasp prey, defend themselves and their resources from other animals, and more. By studying avian ecology and skeletal anatomy I aim to determine which ecological factors are the strongest drivers of hind limb morphology, elucidate which morphological patterns offer the greatest ecological insight, and ultimately use this information to more accurately reconstruct the ecology of extinct theropod dinosaurs. I also study the osteohistology (bone tissue microstructure) of theropod dinosaurs, specifically oviraptorosaurs - an enigmatic Laurasian group of beaked, edentulous theropods. The study of fossil bone microstructure can be used to assess the skeletal maturity of an individual when it died and is used to determine the ways in which the anatomy of these animals may have changed as they grew up (a process called ontogeny). I am currently researching the osteohistology of several oviraptorosaur specimens in order to reconstruct the life history of these odd theropods and to investigate the impact ontogenetic data may have on assessments of species diversity in the fossil record.