George R. McGhee

Professor II
Room 242 Wright Geological Laboratory
(732) 445-3832
mcghee@rci.rutgers.edu

Education

• B.S., North Carolina State University
• M.S., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• Ph.D., University of Rochester

Teaching

• Undergraduate: Dinosaurs, Paleontology, Evolution and Geologic Time
• Graduate: Evolutionary Paleoecology, Numerical Methods in Paleoecology

Research Interests

On a very general level, my work in the field of paleontology is concentrated on the analysis of ancient ecosystems, and the evolution of life through time within this ecological context. For several years my research has involved both the empirical analysis of Late Devonian marine ecosystems, and the theoretical consideration of the ecology of multispecies evolution and extinction patterns. More recently I have been involved in testing various hypotheses of mass extinction: the ecology of massive ecosystem collapse. These hypotheses have included the hypothesis that global ecosystem collapse can be triggered by extraterrestrial causes (chiefly, asteroidal impact).

 A second active field of my research concerns the analysis of the evolution and adaptive significance of organic form in nature using the analytic techniques of "theoretical morphology."  In theoretical morphology, the adaptive landscape concept is put into actual practice by creating hyperdimensional theoretical morphospaces that contain the spectrum of both real and nonexistent animal and plant morphologies.  Within this geometric continuum of possible morphologies we pose the question: "why has nature produced these morphologies and not those other, entirely possible but nevertheless nonexistent, morphologies?", an analytic technique that allows us to unravel why life has evolved the way that it has.

The figure shows a hypothetical adaptive landscape of morphologic combinations (x-y axes) versus fitness or the degree of adaptation (z-axis). Topographic highs represent adaptive morphologies that function well in natural environments (and therefore are selected for), and topographic lows represent unadaptive morphologies that function poorly in natural environments (and therefore are selected against).

Recent Publications

• Raup, D.M, McGhee, G.R., and McKinney, F.K., 2006, Source code for theoretical morphologic simulation of helical colony form in the Bryozoa: Palaeontologia Electronica, v. 9, p. 15.; http://palaeo-electronica.org/2006_2/helical/index.html
• McGhee, G.R., 2007, The geometry of evolution: Adaptive landscapes and theoretical morphospaces: Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, 212 pp.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr., Bayer, U., and Seilacher, A., 1991, Biological and evolutionary responses to transgressive-regressive cycles, in Einsele, G., et al., eds., Cycles and Events in Stratigraphy, New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 696-708.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr., 1994. Comets, asteroids and the Late Devonian mass extinction. Palaios, 9: 513-515.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr., 1995, Geometry of evolution in the biconvex Brachiopoda: morphological effects of mass extinction: Neues Jahrbuch fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie, Abhandlungen, 197: 357-382.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr., 1996. THE LATE DEVONIAN MASS EXTINCTION. New York: Columbia University Press, 303 pp.
• McGhee, G.R., Jr., 1999. THEORETICAL MORPHOLOGY. New York: Columbia University Press, 316 pp.
• Starcher, R. W. and McGhee, G. R. Jr 2000. Fenestrate theoretical morphology: geometric constraints on lophophore shape and arrangement in extinct Bryozoa. Paleobiology 26: 116-136.
• Droser, M. L., Bottjer, D. J., Sheehan, P. M., and McGhee, G. R. Jr 2000. Decoupling of taxonomic and ecologic severity of Phanerozoic marine mass extinctions. Geology 28: 675-678.
• McGhee, G. R. Jr. and McKinney, F. K.. 2000. A theoretical
  morphologic analysis of convergently evolved erect helical colony form in the Bryozoa. Paleobiology 26: 556-577.
• McGhee, G. R. Jr. 2001. Exploring the spectrum of existent, nonexistent and impossible biological form. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 172-173.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr 2001. The question of spiral axes and brachiopod shell growth: a comparison of morphometric techniques. Paleobiology 27: 716-723.
• McGhee, G. R. Jr 2001. The "multiple impacts hypothesis" for mass extinction: a comparison of the Late Devonian and the late Eocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 176: 47-58.
• McGhee, G. R. Jr and McKinney, F. K. 2002. A theoretical morphologic analysis of ecomorphologic variation in Archimedes helical colony form. Palaios 17: 556-570.
• McGhee, G. R., Jr., Sheehan, P. M., Bottjer, D. J., and Droser, M. L. 2004. Ecological ranking of Phanerozoic biodiversity crises: ecological and taxonomic severities are decoupled. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 211: 289-297.