Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/27572
Title: | Rates of Dinosaur Body Mass Evolution Indicate 170 Million Years of Sustained Ecological Innovation on the Avian Stem Lineage | Contributor(s): | Benson, Roger B J (author); Campione, Nicolas E (author) ; Carrano, Matthew T (author); Mannion, Philip D (author); Sullivan, Corwin (author); Upchurch, Paul (author); Evans, David C (author) | Publication Date: | 2014-05-06 | Open Access: | Yes | DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001853 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/27572 | Abstract: | Large-scale adaptive radiations might explain the runaway success of a minority of extant vertebrate clades. This hypothesis predicts, among other things, rapid rates of morphological evolution during the early history of major groups, as lineages invade disparate ecological niches. However, few studies of adaptive radiation have included deep time data, so the links between extant diversity and major extinct radiations are unclear. The intensively studied Mesozoic dinosaur record provides a model system for such investigation, representing an ecologically diverse group that dominated terrestrial ecosystems for 170 million years. Furthermore, with 10,000 species, extant dinosaurs (birds) are the most speciose living tetrapod clade. We assembled composite trees of 614-622 Mesozoic dinosaurs/birds, and a comprehensive body mass dataset using the scaling relationship of limb bone robustness. Maximum-likelihood modelling and the node height test reveal rapid evolutionary rates and a predominance of rapid shifts among size classes in early (Triassic) dinosaurs. This indicates an early burst niche-filling pattern and contrasts with previous studies that favoured gradualistic rates. Subsequently, rates declined in most lineages, which rarely exploited new ecological niches. However, feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs (including Mesozoic birds) sustained rapid evolution from at least the Middle Jurassic, suggesting that these taxa evaded the effects of niche saturation. This indicates that a long evolutionary history of continuing ecological innovation paved the way for a second great radiation of dinosaurs, in birds. We therefore demonstrate links between the predominantly extinct deep time adaptive radiation of non-avian dinosaurs and the phenomenal diversification of birds, via continuing rapid rates of evolution along the phylogenetic stem lineage. This raises the possibility that the uneven distribution of biodiversity results not just from large-scale extrapolation of the process of adaptive radiation in a few extant clades, but also from the maintenance of evolvability on vast time scales across the history of life, in key lineages. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | PLoS Biology, 12(5), p. 1-11 | Publisher: | Public Library of Science | Place of Publication: | United States of America | ISSN: | 1545-7885 1544-9173 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 040308 Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) 060309 Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis 060311 Speciation and Extinction |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 370506 Palaeontology (incl. palynology) 310410 Phylogeny and comparative analysis 310412 Speciation and extinction |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 970104 Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
---|---|
Appears in Collections: | Journal Article School of Environmental and Rural Science |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
openpublished/RatesCampione2014JournalArticle.pdf | Published version | 1.03 MB | Adobe PDF Download Adobe | View/Open |
SCOPUSTM
Citations
295
checked on Jan 4, 2025
Page view(s)
1,448
checked on Jan 12, 2025
Download(s)
134
checked on Jan 12, 2025
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License