Danielle Fraser

Current Research

I am a Research Scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature and Associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I am a palaeoecologist and evolutionary biologist interested in how and why mammal communities form with the goal of understanding the emergence of modern mammal communities and how they might change under ongoing global change. I use a wide array of analytical tools including, but not limited to, computational biology, phylogenetics, palaeodietary methods, field work, and stable isotopes. My research program is multidisciplinary and integrates the study of both extant and extinct mammals.

Selected Publications

Fraser, D., A. Villaseñor, A. B. Tóth, M. Balk, J. T. Eronen, W. A. Barr, A. K. Behrensmeyer, M. Davis, A. Du, J. T. Faith, G. R. Graves, N. J. Gotelli, A. M. Jukar, C. V. Looy, B. J. McGill, J. H. Miller, S. Pineda-Munoz, R. Potts, A. B. Shupinski, L. C. Soul, S. K. Lyons. 2022. Late Quaternary biotic homogenization of North American mammalian faunas. Nature Communications 13: 3940. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31595-8

Landry, Z., M.J. Roloson, and D. Fraser. 2022. Investigating the reliability of metapodials as taxonomic indicators for Beringian horses. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 29: 863–875. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09626-4

Christison, B.E., F. Gaidies, S. Pineda-Munoz, A. R. Evans, M. A. Gilbert, and D. Fraser. 2022. Dietary niches of creodonts and carnivorans of the late Eocene Cypress Hills Formation. Journal of Mammalogy 103: 2-17. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab123

Fraser, D., S. Kim, J. Welker, M. Clementz. 2021. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) enamel phosphate δ¹⁸O values reflect climate seasonality: Implications for paleoclimate reconstruction. Ecology and Evolution 11: 17005-17021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8337

Landry, Zoe, S. Kim, R.B. Trayler, M. Gilbert, G. Zazula, and D. Fraser. 2021. Dietary reconstruction and evidence of prey shifting in Pleistocene and recent gray wolves (Canis lupus) from Yukon Territory. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 571: 110368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110368

Fraser, D., L.C. Soul, M.A. Balk, W.A. Barr, A.K. Behrensmeyer, A. Du, J. Eronen, J.T. Faith, N.J. Gotelli, G. Graves, A.M. Jukar, C.V. Looy, J.H. Miller, S. Pineda-Munoz, A.B. Shupinski, A.B. Tóth, A. Villaseñor, and S.K. Lyons. 2021a. Investigating biotic interactions in deep time. Trends in Ecology and Evolution: 38:61-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.09.001

Fraser, D. and S. K. Lyons. 2020. Mammal community structure across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum 196:271-290. https://doi.org/10.1086/709819

Tóth, A., S.K. Lyons, W. A. Barr, A.K. Behrensmeyer, J.L. Blois, R. Bobe, M. Davis, A. Du, J.T. Eronen, J.T. Faith, D. Fraser, N.J. Gotelli, G.R. Graves, A.M. Jukar, J.H. Miller, S. Pineda-Munoz, L.C. Soul, A. Villaseñor, and J. Alroy. 2019. Reorganization of surviving mammal communities after the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. Science 365: 1305-1308. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw1605

Fraser, D., R.J. Haupt, and W.A. Barr. 2018. Phylogenetic signal in tooth wear dietary niche proxies. Ecology and Evolution 8: 5355-5368. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4052

Fraser, D. and S. K. Lyons. 2017. Biotic interchange has structured Western Hemisphere mammal communities. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26: 1408-1422. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12667.

Fraser, D. 2017. Can latitudinal richness gradients be measured in the fossil record? Paleobiology 43: 479-494.

https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2017.2

Fraser, D., R. Gorelick, and N. Rybczynski. 2015. Macroevolution and climate change influence phylogenetic community assembly of North American hoofed mammals. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 114: 485-494. https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12457

Fraser, D., C. Hassall, R. Gorelick, and N. Rybczynski. 2014b. Mean annual precipitation explains spatiotemporal patterns of Cenozoic mammal beta diversity and latitudinal turnover gradients in North America. PLOS One 9: e106499. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106499

Fraser, D. and N. Rybczynski. 2014. Complexity of ruminant masticatory evolution. Journal of Morphology 275: 1093-1102. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.20284

Fraser, D. and J. M. Theodor. 2013. Ungulate diets reveal patterns of grassland evolution in North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 369: 409-421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.11.006

Fraser, D., and J. M. Theodor. 2011b. Comparing ungulate dietary proxies using discriminant function analysis. Journal of Morphology 272: 1513-1526. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.11001

Share: Twitter, Facebook
Short URL: https://carleton.ca/biology/?p=8121