![]() Romer was able to focus attention on the importance of form and function as it related to an animal's environment as being the key to how it evolved. His comprehensive books, Vertebrate Paleontology and The Vertebrate Body among others shaped much of the thinking of his subject for decades. Romer spent nearly all of his career investigating vertebrate evolution (the process by which all living things change over generations). In 1923 Romer joined the University of Chicago, and in 1934 moved to Harvard University where he remained until his retirement. His dissertation on myology (the scientific study of muscles) became a classic in that field. During World War I (1914–18), the army sent Romer to France, and on his return home in 1919, he entered graduate school at Columbia University and earned his Ph.D. He was able to pay for his schooling through scholarships, jobs, and loans, and finally graduated in 1917 knowing that he wanted to become a paleontologist (one who studies the life of the past by examining its fossil remains). At age eighteen, he spent a year doing odd jobs to earn money for college, and entered Amherst College entirely on his own initiative. Since his family moved many times, he was eventually sent back to White Plains at the age of fifteen to live with his grandmother. As the ultimate authority on the evolution of vertebrates, Romer can be said to have demonstrated Darwin's ideas.Īlfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the son of a newspaper man. Romer's detailed studies of the evolution of extinct fishes, amphibians, and reptiles enabled him to be able to trace the basic changes in their structure and function that came about as they evolved into more complex land animals. ALFRED SHERWOOD ROMERĪmerican paleontologist (a person who studies animals, plants, and other organisms that lived in prehistoric times) Alfred Romer (1894–1973) was one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of the twentieth century. This could only be the case for an animal that has a head end, a tail end, and a right and left side. Vertebrates also have bilateral symmetry, which means that a line drawn lengthwise (top-to-bottom) through the center of the body divides it into halves that are mirror images of each other. As vertebrates are forward-moving animals, it is important that their sense organs be located in the front-most part of their bodies. All have what might be called a "head end" containing a control center and sensory organs. Vertebrates also have several other things in common. ![]() The hard, bony, yet flexible vertebrae protect the delicate cord. Inside the hollow center of each vertebra runs a column of soft nervous tissue called the spinal cord that is connected to the brain and is an essential part of the animal's nervous system. The vertebrae are separated and cushioned from each other by soft, flexible structures known as discs. The vertebrae all lock together and give the entire column rigidity and support as well as flexibility. A backbone, or spinal column, is made up of individual vertebra (plural, vertebrae) that first form as cartilage in the embryonic stage and then ossify, or harden, into bone. The animals in these five classes all have a true backbone, meaning that it is made of bone and not cartilage. CHARCTERISTICS OF VERTEBRATESĪll five major classes of vertebrates-fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals-belong to the phylum Chordata. These five groups are further divided according to whether or not they are cold-blooded or warm-blooded. Vertebrates are divided into five groups, all of which vary in structure, life cycle, and behavior. All vertebrates have bilateral symmetry, well-developed body systems, and a brain that controls many functions. They also have internal skeletons and a system of muscles and bones that allows them to move about easily. ![]() A vertebrate is an animal with a backbone.
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