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Fronhofer EA, Corenblit D, Deshpande JN, Govaert L, Huneman P, Viard F, Jarne P, Puijalon S. Eco-evolution from deep time to contemporary dynamics: The role of timescales and rate modulators. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S91-S108. [PMID: 37840024 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Eco-evolutionary dynamics, or eco-evolution for short, are often thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid heritable phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. We argue that this focus on contemporary dynamics is too narrow: Eco-evolution should be extended, first, beyond pure demography to include all environmental dimensions and, second, to include slow eco-evolution which unfolds over thousands or millions of years. This extension allows us to conceptualise biological systems as occupying a two-dimensional time space along axes that capture the speed of ecology and evolution. Using Hutchinson's analogy: Time is the 'theatre' in which ecology and evolution are two interacting 'players'. Eco-evolutionary systems are therefore dynamic: We identify modulators of ecological and evolutionary rates, like temperature or sensitivity to mutation, which can change the speed of ecology and evolution, and hence impact eco-evolution. Environmental change may synchronise the speed of ecology and evolution via these rate modulators, increasing the occurrence of eco-evolution and emergent system behaviours. This represents substantial challenges for prediction, especially in the context of global change. Our perspective attempts to integrate ecology and evolution across disciplines, from gene-regulatory networks to geomorphology and across timescales, from today to deep time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dov Corenblit
- GEOLAB, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Laboratoire écologie fonctionnelle et environnement, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Philippe Huneman
- Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (CNRS/Université Paris I Sorbonne), Paris, France
| | - Frédérique Viard
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Sara Puijalon
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, Villeurbanne, France
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2
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Jermiin LS, Catullo RA, Holland BR. A new phylogenetic protocol: dealing with model misspecification and confirmation bias in molecular phylogenetics. NAR Genom Bioinform 2020; 2:lqaa041. [PMID: 33575594 PMCID: PMC7671319 DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqaa041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2020] [Revised: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular phylogenetics plays a key role in comparative genomics and has increasingly significant impacts on science, industry, government, public health and society. In this paper, we posit that the current phylogenetic protocol is missing two critical steps, and that their absence allows model misspecification and confirmation bias to unduly influence phylogenetic estimates. Based on the potential offered by well-established but under-used procedures, such as assessment of phylogenetic assumptions and tests of goodness of fit, we introduce a new phylogenetic protocol that will reduce confirmation bias and increase the accuracy of phylogenetic estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars S Jermiin
- CSIRO Land & Water, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- School of Biology & Environment Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
- Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Renee A Catullo
- CSIRO Land & Water, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- School of Science and Health & Hawkesbury Institute of the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
| | - Barbara R Holland
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
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Chan NR. Morphospaces of functionally analogous traits show ecological separation between birds and pterosaurs. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:rspb.2017.1556. [PMID: 29046377 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Birds originated and radiated in the presence of another group of flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs. Opinion is divided as to whether birds competitively displaced pterosaurs from small-body size niches or whether the two groups coexisted with little competition. Previous studies of Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs compared measurements of homologous limb bones to test these hypotheses. However, these characters probably reflect differing ancestries rather than ecologies. Here, competition and ecological separation were tested for using multivariate analyses of functionally equivalent morphological characters. As well as using characters from the fore- and hindlimbs, these analyses also included measurements of the lower jaw. The results of this study indicate that pterosaurs had relatively longer jaws, shorter metatarsals and shorter brachial regions compared with birds of similar size. Contrary to the results of previous studies, the distal wing was not important for separating the two clades in morphospace owing to the inclusion of the primary feathers in this unit. The differences found here indicate ecological separation based on differences in size, locomotory features and feeding adaptations. Thus, instead of one group displacing the other, birds and pterosaurs appear to have adopted distinctive ecological strategies throughout their period of coexistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas R Chan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia
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4
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Congreve CR, Falk AR, Lamsdell JC. Biological hierarchies and the nature of extinction. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2017; 93:811-826. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2017] [Revised: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Curtis R. Congreve
- Department of Geosciences; 510 Deike Building, Pennsylvania State University; University Park PA 16802 U.S.A
| | - Amanda R. Falk
- Department of Biology; Centre College, 600 West Walnut Street; Danville KY 40422 U.S.A
| | - James C. Lamsdell
- Department of Geology and Geography, 98 Beechurst Avenure, Brooks Hall; West Virginia University; Morgantown WV 26506 U.S.A
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Sahoo RK, Warren AD, Collins SC, Kodandaramaiah U. Hostplant change and paleoclimatic events explain diversification shifts in skipper butterflies (Family: Hesperiidae). BMC Evol Biol 2017; 17:174. [PMID: 28768477 PMCID: PMC5541431 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-1016-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2017] [Accepted: 07/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Skippers (Family: Hesperiidae) are a large group of butterflies with ca. 4000 species under 567 genera. The lack of a time-calibrated higher-level phylogeny of the group has precluded understanding of its evolutionary past. We here use a 10-gene dataset to reconstruct the most comprehensive time-calibrated phylogeny of the group, and explore factors that affected the diversification of these butterflies. RESULTS Ancestral state reconstructions show that the early hesperiid lineages utilized dicots as larval hostplants. The ability to feed on monocots evolved once at the K-Pg boundary (ca. 65 million years ago (Mya)), and allowed monocot-feeders to diversify much faster on average than dicot-feeders. The increased diversification rate of the monocot-feeding clade is specifically attributed to rate shifts in two of its descendant lineages. The first rate shift, a four-fold increase compared to background rates, happened ca. 50 Mya, soon after the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, in a lineage of the subfamily Hesperiinae that mostly fed on forest monocots. The second rate shift happened ca. 40 Mya in a grass-feeding lineage of Hesperiinae when open-habitat grasslands appeared in the Neotropics owing to gradual cooling of the atmospheric temperature. CONCLUSIONS The evolution of monocot feeding strongly influenced diversification of skippers. We hypothesize that although monocot feeding was an intrinsic trait that allowed exploration of novel niches, the lack of extensive availability of monocots comprised an extrinsic limitation for niche exploration. The shifts in diversification rate coincided with paleoclimatic events during which grasses and forest monocots were diversified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ranjit Kumar Sahoo
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695 551, India.
| | - Andrew D Warren
- McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, PO Box 112710, 3215 Hull Rd., UF Cultural Plaza, Gainesville, FL, 32611-2710, USA
| | - Steve C Collins
- African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI), PO Box 14308 0800, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Ullasa Kodandaramaiah
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695 551, India
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6
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Vasconcelos TN, Proença CE, Ahmad B, Aguilar DS, Aguilar R, Amorim BS, Campbell K, Costa IR, De-Carvalho PS, Faria JE, Giaretta A, Kooij PW, Lima DF, Mazine FF, Peguero B, Prenner G, Santos MF, Soewarto J, Wingler A, Lucas EJ. Myrteae phylogeny, calibration, biogeography and diversification patterns: Increased understanding in the most species rich tribe of Myrtaceae. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2017; 109:113-137. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Revised: 11/29/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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Phylogenetics and Conservation in New Zealand: The Long and the Short of It. BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-22461-9_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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9
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Beck RMD, Lee MSY. Ancient dates or accelerated rates? Morphological clocks and the antiquity of placental mammals. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 281:rspb.2014.1278. [PMID: 25165770 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.1278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Analyses of a comprehensive morphological character matrix of mammals using 'relaxed' clock models (which simultaneously estimate topology, divergence dates and evolutionary rates), either alone or in combination with an 8.5 kb nuclear sequence dataset, retrieve implausibly ancient, Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous estimates for the initial diversification of Placentalia (crown-group Eutheria). These dates are much older than all recent molecular and palaeontological estimates. They are recovered using two very different clock models, and regardless of whether the tree topology is freely estimated or constrained using scaffolds to match the current consensus placental phylogeny. This raises the possibility that divergence dates have been overestimated in previous analyses that have applied such clock models to morphological and total evidence datasets. Enforcing additional age constraints on selected internal divergences results in only a slight reduction of the age of Placentalia. Constraining Placentalia to less than 93.8 Ma, congruent with recent molecular estimates, does not require major changes in morphological or molecular evolutionary rates. Even constraining Placentalia to less than 66 Ma to match the 'explosive' palaeontological model results in only a 10- to 20-fold increase in maximum evolutionary rate for morphology, and fivefold for molecules. The large discrepancies between clock- and fossil-based estimates for divergence dates might therefore be attributable to relatively small changes in evolutionary rates through time, although other explanations (such as overly simplistic models of morphological evolution) need to be investigated. Conversely, dates inferred using relaxed clock models (especially with discrete morphological data and MrBayes) should be treated cautiously, as relatively minor deviations in rate patterns can generate large effects on estimated divergence dates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin M D Beck
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Michael S Y Lee
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia Earth Sciences Section, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
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10
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Mitchell JS, Makovicky PJ. Low ecological disparity in Early Cretaceous birds. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 281:rspb.2014.0608. [PMID: 24870044 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological divergence is thought to be coupled with evolutionary radiations, yet the strength of this coupling is unclear. When birds diversified ecologically has received much less attention than their hotly debated crown divergence time. Here, we quantify how accurately skeletal morphology can predict ecology in living and extinct birds, and show that the earliest known assemblage of birds (=pygostylians) from the Jehol Biota (≈125 Ma) was substantially impoverished ecologically. The Jehol avifauna has few representatives of highly preservable ecomorphs (e.g. aquatic forms) and a notable lack of ecomorphological overlap with the pterosaur assemblage (e.g. no large or aerially foraging pygostylians). Comparisons of the Jehol functional diversity with modern and subfossil avian assemblages show that taphonomic bias alone cannot explain the ecomorphological impoverishment. However, evolutionary simulations suggest that the constrained ecological diversity of the Early Cretaceous pygostylians is consistent with what is expected from a relatively young radiation. Regardless of the proximate biological explanation, the anomalously low functional diversity of the Jehol birds is evidence both for ecological vacancies in Cretaceous ecosystems, which were subsequently filled by the radiation of crown Aves, and for discordance between taxonomic richness and ecological diversity in the best-known Mesozoic ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S Mitchell
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Department of Science and Education, The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60615, USA
| | - Peter J Makovicky
- Department of Science and Education, The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60615, USA
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11
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Benson RBJ, Frigot RA, Goswami A, Andres B, Butler RJ. Competition and constraint drove Cope's rule in the evolution of giant flying reptiles. Nat Commun 2014; 5:3567. [PMID: 24694584 PMCID: PMC3988819 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The pterosaurs, Mesozoic flying reptiles, attained wingspans of more than 10 m that greatly exceed the largest birds and challenge our understanding of size limits in flying animals. Pterosaurs have been used to illustrate Cope's rule, the influential generalization that evolutionary lineages trend to increasingly large body sizes. However, unambiguous examples of Cope's rule operating on extended timescales in large clades remain elusive, and the phylogenetic pattern and possible drivers of pterosaur gigantism are uncertain. Here we show 70 million years of highly constrained early evolution, followed by almost 80 million years of sustained, multi-lineage body size increases in pterosaurs. These results are supported by maximum-likelihood modelling of a comprehensive new pterosaur data set. The transition between these macroevolutionary regimes is coincident with the Early Cretaceous adaptive radiation of birds, supporting controversial hypotheses of bird-pterosaur competition, and suggesting that evolutionary competition can act as a macroevolutionary driver on extended geological timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rachel A. Frigot
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
| | - Anjali Goswami
- Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment and Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Brian Andres
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
| | - Richard J. Butler
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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12
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Saurabh K, Holland BR, Gibb GC, Penny D. Gaps: an elusive source of phylogenetic information. Syst Biol 2012; 61:1075-82. [PMID: 22438330 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/sys043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kumar Saurabh
- IMBS/IFS/INR, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
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13
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Currie TE, Mace R. Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-political organization: reconciling 'Darwinian' and 'Spencerian' evolutionary approaches in anthropology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:1108-17. [PMID: 21357233 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditional investigations of the evolution of human social and political institutions trace their ancestry back to nineteenth century social scientists such as Herbert Spencer, and have concentrated on the increase in socio-political complexity over time. More recent studies of cultural evolution have been explicitly informed by Darwinian evolutionary theory and focus on the transmission of cultural traits between individuals. These two approaches to investigating cultural change are often seen as incompatible. However, we argue that many of the defining features and assumptions of 'Spencerian' cultural evolutionary theory represent testable hypotheses that can and should be tackled within a broader 'Darwinian' framework. In this paper we apply phylogenetic comparative techniques to data from Austronesian-speaking societies of Island South-East Asia and the Pacific to test hypotheses about the mode and tempo of human socio-political evolution. We find support for three ideas often associated with Spencerian cultural evolutionary theory: (i) political organization has evolved through a regular sequence of forms, (ii) increases in hierarchical political complexity have been more common than decreases, and (iii) political organization has co-evolved with the wider presence of hereditary social stratification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas E Currie
- Evolutionary Cognitive Science Research Centre, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
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14
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Crisp MD, Trewick SA, Cook LG. Hypothesis testing in biogeography. Trends Ecol Evol 2011; 26:66-72. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2010.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 188] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2010] [Revised: 11/17/2010] [Accepted: 11/17/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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15
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Pacheco MA, Battistuzzi FU, Lentino M, Aguilar RF, Kumar S, Escalante AA. Evolution of modern birds revealed by mitogenomics: timing the radiation and origin of major orders. Mol Biol Evol 2011; 28:1927-42. [PMID: 21242529 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msr014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial (mt) genes and genomes are among the major sources of data for evolutionary studies in birds. This places mitogenomic studies in birds at the core of intense debates in avian evolutionary biology. Indeed, complete mt genomes are actively been used to unveil the phylogenetic relationships among major orders, whereas single genes (e.g., cytochrome c oxidase I [COX1]) are considered standard for species identification and defining species boundaries (DNA barcoding). In this investigation, we study the time of origin and evolutionary relationships among Neoaves orders using complete mt genomes. First, we were able to solve polytomies previously observed at the deep nodes of the Neoaves phylogeny by analyzing 80 mt genomes, including 17 new sequences reported in this investigation. As an example, we found evidence indicating that columbiforms and charadriforms are sister groups. Overall, our analyses indicate that by improving the taxonomic sampling, complete mt genomes can solve the evolutionary relationships among major bird groups. Second, we used our phylogenetic hypotheses to estimate the time of origin of major avian orders as a way to test if their diversification took place prior to the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary. Such timetrees were estimated using several molecular dating approaches and conservative calibration points. Whereas we found time estimates slightly younger than those reported by others, most of the major orders originated prior to the K/T boundary. Finally, we used our timetrees to estimate the rate of evolution of each mt gene. We found great variation on the mutation rates among mt genes and within different bird groups. COX1 was the gene with less variation among Neoaves orders and the one with the least amount of rate heterogeneity across lineages. Such findings support the choice of COX 1 among mt genes as target for developing DNA barcoding approaches in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Andreína Pacheco
- Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, AZ, USA
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16
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Farmer C. The Provenance of Alveolar and Parabronchial Lungs: Insights from Paleoecology and the Discovery of Cardiogenic, Unidirectional Airflow in the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). Physiol Biochem Zool 2010; 83:561-75. [DOI: 10.1086/605335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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17
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Yoder JB, Clancey E, Des Roches S, Eastman JM, Gentry L, Godsoe W, Hagey TJ, Jochimsen D, Oswald BP, Robertson J, Sarver BAJ, Schenk JJ, Spear SF, Harmon LJ. Ecological opportunity and the origin of adaptive radiations. J Evol Biol 2010; 23:1581-96. [PMID: 20561138 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02029.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 416] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Ecological opportunity--through entry into a new environment, the origin of a key innovation or extinction of antagonists--is widely thought to link ecological population dynamics to evolutionary diversification. The population-level processes arising from ecological opportunity are well documented under the concept of ecological release. However, there is little consensus as to how these processes promote phenotypic diversification, rapid speciation and adaptive radiation. We propose that ecological opportunity could promote adaptive radiation by generating specific changes to the selective regimes acting on natural populations, both by relaxing effective stabilizing selection and by creating conditions that ultimately generate diversifying selection. We assess theoretical and empirical evidence for these effects of ecological opportunity and review emerging phylogenetic approaches that attempt to detect the signature of ecological opportunity across geological time. Finally, we evaluate the evidence for the evolutionary effects of ecological opportunity in the diversification of Caribbean Anolis lizards. Some of the processes that could link ecological opportunity to adaptive radiation are well documented, but others remain unsupported. We suggest that more study is required to characterize the form of natural selection acting on natural populations and to better describe the relationship between ecological opportunity and speciation rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- J B Yoder
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-3051, USA
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19
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An Overview of the Introns-First Theory. J Mol Evol 2009; 69:527-40. [DOI: 10.1007/s00239-009-9279-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2009] [Accepted: 09/08/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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20
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Branch-length estimation bias misleads molecular dating for a vertebrate mitochondrial phylogeny. Gene 2009; 441:132-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2008.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2008] [Revised: 07/30/2008] [Accepted: 08/21/2008] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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21
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Ho SYW, Phillips MJ. Accounting for Calibration Uncertainty in Phylogenetic Estimation of Evolutionary Divergence Times. Syst Biol 2009; 58:367-80. [PMID: 20525591 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syp035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 521] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Simon Y. W. Ho
- Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
| | - Matthew J. Phillips
- Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
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22
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Pfeil BE, Crisp MD. The age and biogeography of Citrus and the orange subfamily (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae) in Australasia and New Caledonia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2008; 95:1621-31. [PMID: 21628168 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.0800214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The geological history of Australasia, New Caledonia, and Southeast Asia, has been complex, resulting in competing biogeographic hypotheses for taxa found here. Alternative hypotheses-Gondwanan vicariance, rafting terranes, long-distance dispersal-may be distinguished by different predicted divergence times between disjunct sister taxa. Taxa within Rutaceae subfamily Aurantioideae are ideal for testing these hypotheses because of their distributions. Therefore, the ages of Rutaceae and Aurantioideae were estimated using molecular dating. One data set comprised 51 sequences of rbcL and atpB with sampling across rosids and three fossil calibrations: crown Fabales+Fagales+Rosales (>94 Ma), Fabaceae (>51 Ma) and stem Ailanthus, Simaroubaceae (>52 Ma). Another data set comprised 81 Aurantioideae using >8 kb of chloroplast sequence and secondary calibration. Confidence in estimated divergence times was explored by varying the root age, dating method (strict, local, and relaxed clocks), and inclusion of internal calibrations. We conclude that the Rutaceae crown diverged in the Eocene (36.4-56.8 Ma, mean 47.6), whereas the Aurantioideae crown originated in the early Miocene (12.1-28.2 Ma, mean 19.8). This young age suggests that Gondwanan vicariance does not explain the distributions of extant Aurantioideae. Taxa found in New Caledonia may have arrived by separate transoceanic dispersal events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernard E Pfeil
- Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Australia
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23
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Pratt RC, Gibb GC, Morgan-Richards M, Phillips MJ, Hendy MD, Penny D. Toward resolving deep neoaves phylogeny: data, signal enhancement, and priors. Mol Biol Evol 2008; 26:313-26. [PMID: 18981298 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msn248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
We report three developments toward resolving the challenge of the apparent basal polytomy of neoavian birds. First, we describe improved conditional down-weighting techniques to reduce noise relative to signal for deeper divergences and find increased agreement between data sets. Second, we present formulae for calculating the probabilities of finding predefined groupings in the optimal tree. Finally, we report a significant increase in data: nine new mitochondrial (mt) genomes (the dollarbird, New Zealand kingfisher, great potoo, Australian owlet-nightjar, white-tailed trogon, barn owl, a roadrunner [a ground cuckoo], New Zealand long-tailed cuckoo, and the peach-faced lovebird) and together they provide data for each of the six main groups of Neoaves proposed by Cracraft J (2001). We use his six main groups of modern birds as priors for evaluation of results. These include passerines, cuckoos, parrots, and three other groups termed "WoodKing" (woodpeckers/rollers/kingfishers), "SCA" (owls/potoos/owlet-nightjars/hummingbirds/swifts), and "Conglomerati." In general, the support is highly significant with just two exceptions, the owls move from the "SCA" group to the raptors, particularly accipitrids (buzzards/eagles) and the osprey, and the shorebirds may be an independent group from the rest of the "Conglomerati". Molecular dating mt genomes support a major diversification of at least 12 neoavian lineages in the Late Cretaceous. Our results form a basis for further testing with both nuclear-coding sequences and rare genomic changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renae C Pratt
- Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
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Crisp MD. Ghosts of Gondwana: The History of Life in New Zealand.—George Gibbs. 2006, reprinted 2007. Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, New Zealand. 232 pp. ISBN 978-1-877333-48-4 (ISBN-10 1-877333-48-4). NZ$49.99 (hardcover). Syst Biol 2008. [DOI: 10.1080/10635150802034962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Michael D. Crisp
- School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia;
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Brown JW, Rest JS, García-Moreno J, Sorenson MD, Mindell DP. Strong mitochondrial DNA support for a Cretaceous origin of modern avian lineages. BMC Biol 2008; 6:6. [PMID: 18226223 PMCID: PMC2267772 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-6-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2008] [Accepted: 01/28/2008] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Determining an absolute timescale for avian evolutionary history has proven contentious. The two sources of information available, paleontological data and inference from extant molecular genetic sequences (colloquially, 'rocks' and 'clocks'), have appeared irreconcilable; the fossil record supports a Cenozoic origin for most modern lineages, whereas molecular genetic estimates suggest that these same lineages originated deep within the Cretaceous and survived the K-Pg (Cretaceous-Paleogene; formerly Cretaceous-Tertiary or K-T) mass-extinction event. These two sources of data therefore appear to support fundamentally different models of avian evolution. The paradox has been speculated to reflect deficiencies in the fossil record, unrecognized biases in the treatment of genetic data or both. Here we attempt to explore uncertainty and limit bias entering into molecular divergence time estimates through: (i) improved taxon (n = 135) and character (n = 4594 bp mtDNA) sampling; (ii) inclusion of multiple cladistically tested internal fossil calibration points (n = 18); (iii) correction for lineage-specific rate heterogeneity using a variety of methods (n = 5); (iv) accommodation of uncertainty in tree topology; and (v) testing for possible effects of episodic evolution. RESULTS The various 'relaxed clock' methods all indicate that the major (basal) lineages of modern birds originated deep within the Cretaceous, although temporal intraordinal diversification patterns differ across methods. We find that topological uncertainty had a systematic but minor influence on date estimates for the origins of major clades, and Bayesian analyses assuming fixed topologies deliver similar results to analyses with unconstrained topologies. We also find that, contrary to expectation, rates of substitution are not autocorrelated across the tree in an ancestor-descendent fashion. Finally, we find no signature of episodic molecular evolution related to either speciation events or the K-Pg boundary that could systematically mislead inferences from genetic data. CONCLUSION The 'rock-clock' gap has been interpreted by some to be a result of the vagaries of molecular genetic divergence time estimates. However, despite measures to explore different forms of uncertainty in several key parameters, we fail to reconcile molecular genetic divergence time estimates with dates taken from the fossil record; instead, we find strong support for an ancient origin of modern bird lineages, with many extant orders and families arising in the mid-Cretaceous, consistent with previous molecular estimates. Although there is ample room for improvement on both sides of the 'rock-clock' divide (e.g. accounting for 'ghost' lineages in the fossil record and developing more realistic models of rate evolution for molecular genetic sequences), the consistent and conspicuous disagreement between these two sources of data more likely reflects a genuine difference between estimated ages of (i) stem-group origins and (ii) crown-group morphological diversifications, respectively. Further progress on this problem will benefit from greater communication between paleontologists and molecular phylogeneticists in accounting for error in avian lineage age estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph W Brown
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
| | - Joshua S Rest
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60615, USA
| | - Jaime García-Moreno
- Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Mexico and Central America, Conservation International, Apdo. 2365-2050 San Pedro, Costa Rica
| | - Michael D Sorenson
- Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - David P Mindell
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
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26
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Brown JW, Payne RB, Mindell DP. Nuclear DNA does not reconcile 'rocks' and 'clocks' in Neoaves: a comment on Ericson et al. Biol Lett 2008; 3:257-9; discussion 260-1. [PMID: 17389215 PMCID: PMC2464679 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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27
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Wilson R, Heinrichs J, Hentschel J, Gradstein SR, Schneider H. Steady diversification of derived liverworts under Tertiary climatic fluctuations. Biol Lett 2007; 3:566-9. [PMID: 17686755 PMCID: PMC2391190 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Tropical forests contain the majority of extant plant diversity and their role as a cradle and/or museum of biodiversity is an important issue in our attempts to assess the long-term consequences of global climate change for terrestrial biomes. Highly diverse groups of liverworts are an often ignored but extremely common element in rainforests, and thus their evolution may shed light on the ecological robustness of rainforest biomes to climate fluctuations. We record a remarkable constant accumulation of diversity through time for the most species-rich family of liverworts, Lejeuneaceae, inferred by divergence time estimates. The observed pattern supports the recently developed concept of a dual role of the tropics as both a museum and a cradle of biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosemary Wilson
- Albrecht-von-Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, Georg-August University Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
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28
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Hone DWE, Benton MJ. Cope's Rule in the Pterosauria, and differing perceptions of Cope's Rule at different taxonomic levels. J Evol Biol 2007; 20:1164-70. [PMID: 17465925 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01284.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The remarkable extinct flying reptiles, the pterosaurs, show increasing body size over 100 million years of the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, and this seems to be a rare example of a driven trend to large size (Cope's Rule). The size increases continue throughout the long time span, and small forms disappear as larger pterosaurs evolve. Mean wingspan increases through time. Examining for Cope's Rule at a variety of taxonomic levels reveals varying trends within the Pterosauria as a whole, as pterodactyloid pterosaurs increase in size at all levels of examination, but rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs show both size increase and size decrease in different analyses. These results suggest that analyses testing for Cope's Rule at a single taxonomic level may give misleading results.
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Affiliation(s)
- D W E Hone
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
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29
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Crisp MD, Cook LG. A congruent molecular signature of vicariance across multiple plant lineages. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2007; 43:1106-17. [PMID: 17434758 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.02.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2006] [Revised: 02/06/2007] [Accepted: 02/27/2007] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Explaining disjunct distributions, or why closely related organisms are often separated by apparently severe barriers such as oceans or deserts, is a great challenge for historical biogeography. Competing explanations are long-distance dispersal across a barrier, and vicariance, in which disjunct taxa are descended from an ancestral population that was split by formation of the barrier. Vicariance explanations are testable by their prediction that near-simultaneous speciation should have occurred across multiple lineages of organisms between the disjunct areas because the origin of a barrier would potentially disrupt gene flow within multiple species. To date, there have been few studies providing evidence for multiple synchronous ancient divergences across a barrier whose origin coincides with the timing of the speciation events. Here, we use relaxed molecular-clock dating to investigate the timing of south-western (SW) versus south-eastern (SE) divergences in 23 pairs of plant lineages in southern Australia. Sixteen of the divergences correlate with the origin, 13-14 million years (Myr) ago, of the arid treeless Nullarbor Plain. The Nullarbor Plain currently forms a substantial barrier to SW-SE migration but during the last 45Myr this region has experienced multiple episodes of marine inundation and subaerial exposure. Thus, there have been multiple events that could have caused either isolation and speciation, or secondary contact, among the taxa of southern Australia. The strong molecular signal of coincident speciation in many diverse lineages during a short period provides the best evidence to date linking synchronous speciation to an ancient vicariance event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael D Crisp
- School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Daley Road, Building 44, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
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30
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McGowan AJ, Dyke GJ. A morphospace-based test for competitive exclusion among flying vertebrates: did birds, bats and pterosaurs get in each other's space? J Evol Biol 2007; 20:1230-6. [PMID: 17465933 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01285.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Three vertebrate groups - birds, bats and pterosaurs - have evolved flapping flight over the past 200 million years. This innovation allowed each clade access to new ecological opportunities, but did the diversification of one of these groups inhibit the evolutionary radiation of any of the others? A related question is whether having the wing attached to the hindlimbs in bats and pterosaurs constrained their morphological diversity relative to birds. Fore- and hindlimb measurements from 894 specimens were used to construct a morphospace to assess morphological overlap and range, a possible indicator of competition, among the three clades. Neither birds nor bats entered pterosaur morphospace across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (Tertiary) extinction. Bats plot in a separate area from birds, and have a significantly smaller morphological range than either birds or pterosaurs. On the basis of these results, competitive exclusion among the three groups is not supported.
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Affiliation(s)
- A J McGowan
- Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
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31
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Bininda-Emonds ORP, Cardillo M, Jones KE, MacPhee RDE, Beck RMD, Grenyer R, Price SA, Vos RA, Gittleman JL, Purvis A. The delayed rise of present-day mammals. Nature 2007; 446:507-12. [PMID: 17392779 DOI: 10.1038/nature05634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1375] [Impact Index Per Article: 80.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2006] [Accepted: 01/31/2007] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Did the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, by eliminating non-avian dinosaurs and most of the existing fauna, trigger the evolutionary radiation of present-day mammals? Here we construct, date and analyse a species-level phylogeny of nearly all extant Mammalia to bring a new perspective to this question. Our analyses of how extant lineages accumulated through time show that net per-lineage diversification rates barely changed across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Instead, these rates spiked significantly with the origins of the currently recognized placental superorders and orders approximately 93 million years ago, before falling and remaining low until accelerating again throughout the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Our results show that the phylogenetic 'fuses' leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today's mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olaf R P Bininda-Emonds
- Lehrstuhl für Tierzucht, Technical University of Munich, 85354 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany.
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32
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Wilson R, Gradstein SR, Schneider H, Heinrichs J. Unravelling the phylogeny of Lejeuneaceae (Jungermanniopsida): Evidence for four main lineages. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2007; 43:270-82. [PMID: 17157036 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2006] [Revised: 10/13/2006] [Accepted: 10/16/2006] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
With about 1000 species in approximately 90 genera, Lejeuneaceae are the largest family of liverworts and make up a large and important part of cryptogamic diversity in the humid tropics. Maximum parsimony, Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of a dataset including four markers (rbcL, psbA, trnL-trnF region of cp DNA, nrITS region) of 134 accessions resulted in similar topologies that support the presence of four main lineages within Lejeuneaceae. Model-based analyses support a division of Lejeuneaceae into two lineages corresponding to the subfamilies Ptychanthoideae and Lejeuneoideae. The latter lineage splits into the tribes Lejeuneeae, Brachiolejeuneeae and the genus Symbiezidium. In contrast, the Maximum parsimony analysis resolves Brachiolejeuneeae and Symbiezidium in serial sister relationships to the remainder of Lejeuneaceae. Sporophyte characters support a split into two subfamilies as seen in the model-based analyses. Some deep nodes remain unresolved, possibly indicating a series of initial diversifications which occurred over a short time period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosemary Wilson
- Albrecht von Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, Department of Systematic Botany, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
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33
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34
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Ericson PGP, Anderson CL, Britton T, Elzanowski A, Johansson US, Källersjö M, Ohlson JI, Parsons TJ, Zuccon D, Mayr G. Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils. Biol Lett 2006; 2:543-7. [PMID: 17148284 PMCID: PMC1834003 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 374] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2006] [Accepted: 07/06/2006] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Patterns of diversification and timing of evolution within Neoaves, which includes almost 95% of all bird species, are virtually unknown. On the other hand, molecular data consistently indicate a Cretaceous origin of many neoavian lineages and the fossil record seems to support an Early Tertiary diversification. Here, we present the first well-resolved molecular phylogeny for Neoaves, together with divergence time estimates calibrated with a large number of stratigraphically and phylogenetically well-documented fossils. Our study defines several well-supported clades within Neoaves. The calibration results suggest that Neoaves, after an initial split from Galloanseres in Mid-Cretaceous, diversified around or soon after the K/T boundary. Our results thus do not contradict palaeontological data and show that there is no solid molecular evidence for an extensive pre-Tertiary radiation of Neoaves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Per G P Ericson
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Molecular Systematics Laboratory, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden.
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35
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Slack KE, Jones CM, Ando T, Harrison GLA, Fordyce RE, Arnason U, Penny D. Early Penguin Fossils, Plus Mitochondrial Genomes, Calibrate Avian Evolution. Mol Biol Evol 2006; 23:1144-55. [PMID: 16533822 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msj124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Testing models of macroevolution, and especially the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes, requires good collaboration between molecular biologists and paleontologists. We report such a test for events around the Late Cretaceous by describing the earliest penguin fossils, analyzing complete mitochondrial genomes from an albatross, a petrel, and a loon, and describe the gradual decline of pterosaurs at the same time modern birds radiate. The penguin fossils comprise four naturally associated skeletons from the New Zealand Waipara Greensand, a Paleocene (early Tertiary) formation just above a well-known Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary site. The fossils, in a new genus (Waimanu), provide a lower estimate of 61-62 Ma for the divergence between penguins and other birds and thus establish a reliable calibration point for avian evolution. Combining fossil calibration points, DNA sequences, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis, the penguin calibrations imply a radiation of modern (crown group) birds in the Late Cretaceous. This includes a conservative estimate that modern sea and shorebird lineages diverged at least by the Late Cretaceous about 74 +/- 3 Ma (Campanian). It is clear that modern birds from at least the latest Cretaceous lived at the same time as archaic birds including Hesperornis, Ichthyornis, and the diverse Enantiornithiformes. Pterosaurs, which also coexisted with early crown birds, show notable changes through the Late Cretaceous. There was a decrease in taxonomic diversity, and small- to medium-sized species disappeared well before the end of the Cretaceous. A simple reading of the fossil record might suggest competitive interactions with birds, but much more needs to be understood about pterosaur life histories. Additional fossils and molecular data are still required to help understand the role of biotic interactions in the evolution of Late Cretaceous birds and thus to test that the mechanisms of microevolution are sufficient to explain macroevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerryn E Slack
- Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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