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P. David Polly
P. David Polly
Born	1966; Jefferson City, Missouri
Nationality	American
Education	BA, PhD
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin; University of California, Berkeley
Known for	work on fossil Carnivora and Creodonta, quantitative evolution, geometric morphometrics
Awards	Joseph T. Gregory Award 2001; President, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2016-2018; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2021;
	Scientific career
Fields	Vertebrate Paleontology, Evolutionary Biology
Institutions	Indiana University; Queen Mary, University of London; Natural History Museum, London; University of Michigan
Doctoral advisor	William A. Clemens, Jr.
Website	earth.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/polly-p.html

Paul David Polly is an American paleontologist and the Robert R. Shrock Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University as well as the sitting chair of the department.^[1]^[2]

Polly's research focuses on quantitative evolution, phylogeny, and paleoecology of vertebrates.^[3] Much of his work has been on the phylogenetics and functional evolution of mammals, especially Carnivora^[4]^[5] and Creodonta,^[6] on the correspondence between phenotypic and genetic differentiation,^[7] on the role of functional traits in structuring mammalian communities,^[8] and on the evolution of multivariate quantitative morphological traits.^[9] With lead author Jason Head and other co-authors, he helped describe the giant fossil snake Titanoboa and the associated methods for estimating paleotemperature from the size of extinct reptiles.^[10]^[11]

Polly received a BA from the Plan II Honors program at University of Texas at Austin in 1987^[12] and a PhD in Paleontology from the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley in 1993 for his work on the phylogeny of creodonts.^[13] He was then a member of the Michigan Society of Fellows from 1994 to 1996,^[14] and on the faculty of the St. Bartholomew's and Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and later the School of Biological Sciences, at Queen Mary, University of London from 1997 to 2006. He moved to Indiana University in 2006. In 2021 he became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS).^[15]

With Robert P. Guralnick and Allen Collins, Polly started one of the first 50 websites in the world in 1993, the University of California Museum of Paleontology site.^[16] In 2001, Polly received the Joseph T. Gregory Award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for putting the society on the web and developing an online abstract submission system.^[17]

Polly served as president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology from 2016 through 2018.^[18] During Polly's term as SVP president, US President Donald J. Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke downsized two national monuments that protect vertebrate paleontological resources, Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Polly was involved in lawsuits by SVP to reverse those actions, which are currently ongoing.^[19]

References

^ "P. David Polly, Indiana University". Indiana University. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
^ Blasing, George. "134 – Interview with Dr. David Polly – President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology". Dinosaur George Podcast - A Podcast Devoted to Paleontology and Natural Science. RadioPublic. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
^ "GoogleScholar Profile, P. David Polly". Google, Inc. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
^ Polly, P. D. (1997). "Ancestry and Species Definition in Paleontology: A Stratocladistic Analysis of Paleocene-Eocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Wyoming". Contributions from the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. 30: 1–53. hdl:2027.42/48638.
^ Polly, P.D.; Fuentes-Gonzales, J.; Lawing, A. M.; Bormet, A. K.; Dundas, R. (2017). "Clade sorting has a greater effect than local adaptation on ecometric patterns in Carnivora". Evolutionary Ecology Research. 16: 61–95.
^ Polly, P. D. (1996). "The Skeleton of Gazinocyon vulpeculus Gen. et comb. nov. and the Cladistic Relationships of Hyaenodontidae (Eutheria, Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (2): 303–319. Bibcode:1996JVPal..16..303P. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011318. JSTOR 4523721. S2CID 84853339.
^ Caumul, R.; Polly, P. D. (2005). "Phylogenetic and environmental components of morphological variation: skull, mandible, and molar shape in marmots (Marmota, Rodentia)". Evolution. 59 (11): 2460–2472. doi:10.1554/05-117.1. PMID 16396186. S2CID 198157479.
^ Polly, P. D.; Eronen, J. T.; Fred, M.; Dietl, G. P.; Mossbrugger, V.; Scheidigger, C.; Frank, D. V.; Damuth, J.; Stenseth, N. C.; Fortelius, M. (2011). "History matters: ecometrics and integrative climate change biology". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 278 (1709): 1121–1130. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2233. PMC 3049084. PMID 21227966.
^ Polly, P. David (2008). "Developmental Dynamics and G-Matrices: Can Morphometric Spaces be Used to Model Phenotypic Evolution?". Evolutionary Biology. 35 (83): 83–96. Bibcode:2008EvBio..35...83P. doi:10.1007/s11692-008-9020-0. S2CID 27300709.
^ Head, Jason J. (2009). "Giant boine snake from a Paleocene Neotropical rainforest indicates hotter past equatorial temperatures". Nature. 457 (7230): 715–717. doi:10.1038/nature07671. PMID 19194448. S2CID 4381423.
^ Kemp, Martin. "Titanoboa: Monster Snake". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
^ Rowe, Timothy B. "Students". Jackson School of Geosciences. University of Texas, Austin. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
^ "P. David Polly Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Indiana University. Retrieved 22 Jul 2018.
^ "Alumni Fellow". Michigan Society of Fellows. University of Michigan. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
^ "2021 AAAS Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
^ Schachter, Beth (14 Jan 1999). "With Minimalist Approach, Paleontology Is Brought to Life". New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
^ "Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Award Winners". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
^ "Leadership of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Retrieved 22 Jul 2018.
^ Underwood, Emily (6 Dec 2017). "Why fossil scientists are suing Trump over monuments downsizing". Science. 358 (6369): 1368. doi:10.1126/science.358.6369.1368. PMID 29242325. Retrieved 22 July 2018.