Robert L Anstey

I am interested in the biology and paleobiology of marine Bryozoa, particularly their phylogeny and evolutionary history. This interest area includes their microevolution and macroevolution, systematics, diversity history, and biogeography. I have paid particular attention to the bryozoans of the Paleozoic Era, and have analyzed events like the initial radiation of the phylum in the Early Ordovician, as well subsequent events such as the Late Ordovician, Mid-Devonian, and Late Permian extinctions. My research techniques have included quantitative stereology and other quantitative morphometric methods, and I have used cladistics as a way of establishing evolutionary pathways in phenetic morphospace. My research includes analysis of heritability, selection, microevolution, and speciation in a specimen-based phylogeny of the genus Peronopora.