Paleontologist Investigates Ancestors of Crocs and Birds

An in-process excavation of a sauropod dinosaur skeleton in the Rukwa Rift Basin of southwestern Tanzania. The quarry has thus far yielded numerous ribs, vertebrae and limb bones of a new, as yet named, species of sauropod dinosaur. Credit: Patrick O'Connor, Ohio University

An in-process excavation of a sauropod dinosaur skeleton in the Rukwa Rift Basin of southwestern Tanzania. The quarry has thus far yielded numerous ribs, vertebrae and limb bones of a new, as yet named, species of sauropod dinosaur. Credit: Patrick O'Connor, Ohio University

Patrick O'Connor (right) and Chris Denker (left) excavating plant fossils from middle Cretaceous deposits on Snow Island, South Shetlands Islands Group, December 2009. Credit: Steve Salisbury, University of Queensland

This ScienceLives article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Patrick O’Connor is an associate professor of anatomical sciences in the department of biomedical sciences at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies. O’Connor was initially trained as a comparative biologist/paleontologist at a medical school. He now works with other paleontologists and geologists in locations such as Tanzania, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Antarctica. These research teams typically include students from the U.S., for instance in projects such as the Rukwa Rift Basin Project (RRBP), which explores paleontology and geology in poorly sampled areas in southern and western Tanzania. O’Connor’s taxonomic specialty is focused on archosaurs, the group that includes living crocodiles and birds, but also includes extinct members such as nonavian dinosaurs and pterosaurs. His research focuses on both living and extinct members of the group, ranging from Marabou storks and hummingbirds to theropod dinosaurs and the extremely specialized notosuchian crocodyliforms. One of O’Connor’s research areas involves the origin and evolution of birds, in particular how different anatomical systems (e.g., the pulmonary system) in birds and their dinosaurian ancestors have evolved in a step-wise fashion through time, as revealed in his study. In recent years, O’Connor has re-entered the undergraduate world in order to take classes in Ki-Swahili, an important, if not essential, prerequisite for working in East Africa. Recently, O’Connor and his team discovered a bizarre mammal-like notosuchian crocodylifrom from 100-million-year-old sedimentary deposits in Tanzania. This discovery supports a growing consensus that the relatives of crocodiles alive during the age of dinosaurs were much more diverse than their relatives alive today. Check out the NSF Special Report to view a webcast and photos and to learn more about these ancient crocodiles and O’Connor’s research.

Name: Patrick O’Connor
Age: 41
Institution: Ohio University
Field of Study: Evolutionary Morphology and Paleontology

What inspired you to choose this field of study?
I have always been interested in being outside, hiking along trails, and scrambling around on rocks − interests no doubt related to growing up in a small town in the Great Lakes region. At the same time I have always been fascinated with most aspects of biology, and in particular with zoology. When I “discovered” biology and geology during my undergraduate days at Michigan State University, paleontology seemed like a fantastic way of combining these interests. The study of evolutionary morphology provides a venue for exploring aspects of organismal form, function, development and even genetics, in order to better understand the mechanisms that lie at the foundation of the diversity of life that we see around us today. This in turn allows us to consider potential mechanisms by which different groups of now-extinct animals diversified at past times during Earth's history.