Marcus M. Key - Dept. of Geology, Dickinson College, U.S.A.
Patrick N. Wyse Jackson - Dept. of Geology , Trinity College, Ireland
Paul D. Taylor - Dept. of Paleontology, Natural History Museum, UK
Caroline J. Buttler - Dept. of Geology, National Museum Cardiff, UK
Students: Julie Collins ('93), Louis Vitiello ('01)

       One of the functional constraints of modular living in colonial animals is feeding.  How can a small feeding individual in a colony overcome the larger colony sized water current impediments to feeding?  In bryozoans, this has led to the polyphyletic evolution of colony wide feeding currents usually centered around maculae.  A macula is a cluster of non-feeding polymorphs and/or extrazooidal skeleton surrounded by feeding autozooids.  The maculae are typically regularly spaced on the colony surface.  A monticule is a macula with positive relief.  We are interested in the phylogeny and functional morphology of colony wide feeding currents in Paleozoic bryozoans.