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Lauer DA, Lawing AM, Short RA, Manthi FK, Müller J, Head JJ, McGuire JL. Disruption of trait-environment relationships in African megafauna occurred in the middle Pleistocene. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4016. [PMID: 37463920 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39480-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Mammalian megafauna have been critical to the functioning of Earth's biosphere for millions of years. However, since the Plio-Pleistocene, their biodiversity has declined concurrently with dramatic environmental change and hominin evolution. While these biodiversity declines are well-documented, their implications for the ecological function of megafaunal communities remain uncertain. Here, we adapt ecometric methods to evaluate whether the functional link between communities of herbivorous, eastern African megafauna and their environments (i.e., functional trait-environment relationships) was disrupted as biodiversity losses occurred over the past 7.4 Ma. Herbivore taxonomic and functional diversity began to decline during the Pliocene as open grassland habitats emerged, persisted, and expanded. In the mid-Pleistocene, grassland expansion intensified, and climates became more variable and arid. It was then that phylogenetic diversity declined, and the trait-environment relationships of herbivore communities shifted significantly. Our results divulge the varying implications of different losses in megafaunal biodiversity. Only the losses that occurred since the mid-Pleistocene were coincident with a disturbance to community ecological function. Prior diversity losses, conversely, occurred as the megafaunal species and trait pool narrowed towards those adapted to grassland environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A Lauer
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
| | - A Michelle Lawing
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Rachel A Short
- Department of Natural Resource Management, South Dakota State University, Rapid City, SD, 57703, USA
| | - Fredrick K Manthi
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Johannes Müller
- Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jason J Head
- Department of Zoology and University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Jenny L McGuire
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
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2
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The utility of body size as a functional trait to link the past and present in a diverse reptile clade. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2201948119. [PMID: 36745796 PMCID: PMC9964042 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201948119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relationships between functional traits and environment is increasingly important for assessing ecosystem health and forecasting biotic responses to future environmental change. Taxon-free analyses of functional traits (ecometrics) allow for testing the performance of such traits through time, utilizing both the fossil record and paleoenvironmental proxies. Here, we test the role of body size as a functional trait with respect to climate, using turtles as a model system. We examine the influence of mass-specific metabolic rate as a functional factor in the sorting of body size with environmental temperature and investigate the utility of community body size composition as an ecometric correlated to climate variables. We then apply our results to the fossil record of the Plio-Pleistocene Shungura Formation in Ethiopia. Results show that turtle body sizes scale with mass-specific metabolic rate for larger taxa, but not for the majority of species, indicating that metabolism is not a primary driver of size. Body size ecometrics have stronger predictive power at continental than at global scales, but without a single, dominant predictive functional relationship. Application of ecometrics to the Shungura fossil record suggests that turtle paleocommunity ecometrics coarsely track independent paleoclimate estimates at local scales. We hypothesize that both human disruption and biotic interactions limit the ecometric fit of size to climate in this clade. Nonetheless, examination of the consistency of trait-environment relationships through deep and shallow time provides a means for testing anthropogenic influences on ecosystems.
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3
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Mechenich MF, Žliobaitė I. Eco-ISEA3H, a machine learning ready spatial database for ecometric and species distribution modeling. Sci Data 2023; 10:77. [PMID: 36750720 PMCID: PMC9905527 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-01966-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
We present the Eco-ISEA3H database, a compilation of global spatial data characterizing climate, geology, land cover, physical and human geography, and the geographic ranges of nearly 900 large mammalian species. The data are tailored for machine learning (ML)-based ecological modeling, and are intended primarily for continental- to global-scale ecometric and species distribution modeling. Such models are trained on present-day data and applied to the geologic past, or to future scenarios of climatic and environmental change. Model training requires integrated global datasets, describing species' occurrence and environment via consistent observational units. The Eco-ISEA3H database incorporates data from 17 sources, and includes 3,033 variables. The database is built on the Icosahedral Snyder Equal Area (ISEA) aperture 3 hexagonal (3H) discrete global grid system (DGGS), which partitions the Earth's surface into equal-area hexagonal cells. Source data were incorporated at six nested ISEA3H resolutions, using scripts developed and made available here. We demonstrate the utility of the database in a case study analyzing the bioclimatic envelopes of ten large, widely distributed mammalian species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael F Mechenich
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Indrė Žliobaitė
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
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4
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Pinsky ML, Comte L, Sax DF. Unifying climate change biology across realms and taxa. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:672-682. [PMID: 35610063 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
A major challenge in modern biology is to understand extinction risk from climate change across all realms. Recent research has revealed that physiological tolerance, behavioral thermoregulation, and small elevation shifts are dominant coping strategies on land, whereas large-scale latitudinal shifts are more important in the ocean. Freshwater taxa may face the highest global extinction risks. Nevertheless, some species in each realm face similar risks because of shared adaptive, dispersal, or physiological tolerances and abilities. Taking a cross-realm perspective offers unique research opportunities because confounding physical factors in one realm are often disaggregated in another realm. Cross-realm, across taxa, and other forms of climate change biology synthesis are needed to advance our understanding of emergent patterns of risk across all life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malin L Pinsky
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
| | - Lise Comte
- School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
| | - Dov F Sax
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
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5
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Stevens RD. Broad-scale gradients of resource utilization by phyllostomid bats in Atlantic Forest: patterns of dietary overlap, turnover and the efficacy of ecomorphological approaches. Oecologia 2022; 198:785-799. [PMID: 35258697 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05137-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Identifying mechanisms that promote coexistence at the local level is enigmatic for many organisms. Numerous studies have indirectly demonstrated that biotic interactions may not cause deterministic patterns reflective of the coexistence of interacting bat species. Nonetheless, demonstration of the partitioning of resources by phyllostomid bats by directly examining diet matrices may illuminate a mechanism of coexistence. I examined the dietary overlap of phyllostomid bats across 23 sites in the Atlantic Forest of South America. I also examined components of beta diversity (turnover and nestedness) of resources among species as well as the degree to which morphology can act as a surrogate for dietary similarity in each community. Bats exhibited high overlap. Nonetheless, dietary beta diversity was more related to turnover than nestedness of items suggesting substantive species-specific affinities. Niche breath and dietary overlap were positively related to the number of species and the number of resources consumed in communities. Accordingly, changes in richness across Atlantic Forest may be facilitated by increases in resources available at the community level. There were positive, yet weak relationships between morphological and dietary distance. The relationship between morphology and diet was invariant relative to geography, species richness, number of dietary resources, average diet breadth and average dietary overlap indicating that in the Atlantic Forest morphology is a consistent surrogate of dietary relationships of species. Atlantic Forest is one of the most anthropogenically modified tropical forests in the world. This in combination with distinct climatic seasonality likely causes higher dietary overlap, weaker ecomorphological relationships and persistence of only the most general bat species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard D Stevens
- Department of Natural Resources Management and Natural Science Research Laboratory of the Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
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6
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Short RA, Lawing AM. Geography of artiodactyl locomotor morphology as an environmental predictor. DIVERS DISTRIB 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A. Short
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology Texas A&M University College Station TX USA
- School of Biological Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA USA
| | - A. Michelle Lawing
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology Texas A&M University College Station TX USA
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7
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Short RA, Pinson K, Lawing AM. Comparison of environmental inference approaches for ecometric analyses: Using hypsodonty to estimate precipitation. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:587-598. [PMID: 33437453 PMCID: PMC7790641 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2020] [Revised: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecometrics is the study of community-level functional trait-environment relationships. We use ecometric analyses to estimate paleoenvironment and to investigate community-level functional changes through time.We evaluate four methods that have been used or have the potential to be used in ecometric analyses for estimating paleoenvironment to determine whether there have been systematic differences in paleoenvironmental estimation due to choice of the estimation method. Specifically, we evaluated linear regression, polynomial regression, nearest neighbor, and maximum-likelihood methods to explore the predictive ability of the relationship for a well-known ecometric dataset of mammalian herbivore hypsodonty metrics (molar tooth crown to root height ratio) and annual precipitation. Each method was applied to 43 Pleistocene fossil sites and compared to annual precipitation from global climate models. Sites were categorized as glacial or interglacial, and paleoprecipitation estimates were compared to the appropriate model.Estimation methods produce results that are highly correlated with log precipitation and estimates from the other methods (p < 0.001). Differences between estimated precipitation and observed precipitation are not significantly different across the four methods, but maximum likelihood produces the most accurate estimates of precipitation. When applied to paleontological sites, paleoprecipitation estimates align more closely with glacial global climate models than with interglacial models regardless of the age of the site.Each method has constraints that are important to consider when designing ecometric analyses to avoid misinterpretations when ecometric relationships are applied to the paleontological record. We show interglacial fauna estimates of paleoprecipitation more closely match glacial global climate models. This is likely because of the anthropogenic effects on community reassembly in the Holocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A. Short
- Department of Ecology and Conservation BiologyTexas A&M UniversityCollege StationTXUSA
| | - Katherine Pinson
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsTexas A&M UniversityCollege StationTXUSA
| | - A. Michelle Lawing
- Department of Ecology and Conservation BiologyTexas A&M UniversityCollege StationTXUSA
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8
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Abstract
AbstractHuman-mediated species invasion and climate change are leading to global extinctions and are predicted to result in the loss of important axes of phylogenetic and functional diversity. However, the long-term robustness of modern communities to invasion is unknown, given the limited timescales over which they can be studied. Using the fossil record of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM; ∼56 Ma) in North America, we evaluate mammalian community-level response to a rapid global warming event (5°-8°C) and invasion by three Eurasian mammalian orders and by species undergoing northward range shifts. We assembled a database of 144 species body sizes and created a time-scaled composite phylogeny. We calculated the phylogenetic and functional diversity of all communities before, during, and after the PETM. Despite increases in the phylogenetic diversity of the regional species pool, phylogenetic diversity of mammalian communities remained relatively unchanged, a pattern that is invariant to the tree dating method, uncertainty in tree topology, and resolution. Similarly, body size dispersion and the degree of spatial taxonomic turnover of communities remained similar across the PETM. We suggest that invasion by new taxa had little impact on Paleocene-Eocene mammal communities because niches were not saturated. Our findings are consistent with the numerous studies of modern communities that record little change in community-scale richness despite turnover in taxonomic composition during invasion. What remains unknown is whether long-term robustness to biotic and abiotic perturbation are retained by modern communities given global anthropogenic landscape modification.
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9
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Clapham ME. Conservation evidence from climate-related stressors in the deep-time marine fossil record. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20190223. [PMID: 31679494 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Conservation of marine species requires the ability to predict the effects of climate-related stressors in an uncertain future. Experiments and observations in modern settings provide crucial information, but lack temporal scale and cannot anticipate emergent effects during ongoing global change. By contrast, the deep-time fossil record contains the long-term perspective at multiple global change events that can be used, at a broad scale, to test hypothesized effects of climate-related stressors. For example, geologically rapid carbon cycle disruption has often caused crises in reef ecosystems, and selective extinctions support the hypothesis that greater activity levels promote survival. Geographical patterns of extinction and extirpation were more variable than predicted from modern physiology, with tropical and temperate extinction peaks observed at different ancient events. Like any data source, the deep-time record has limitations but also provides opportunities that complement the limitations of modern and historical data. In particular, the deep-time record is the best source of information on actual outcomes of climate-related stressors in natural settings and over evolutionary timescales. Closer integration of modern and deep-time evidence can expand the types of hypotheses testable with the fossil record, yielding better predictions of extinction risk as climate-related stressors continue to intensify in future oceans. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?'
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew E Clapham
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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10
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Feilich KL, López-Fernández H. When Does Form Reflect Function? Acknowledging and Supporting Ecomorphological Assumptions. Integr Comp Biol 2019; 59:358-370. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/icz070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Ecomorphology is the study of relationships between organismal morphology and ecology. As such, it is the only way to determine if morphometric data can be used as an informative proxy for ecological variables of interest. To achieve this goal, ecomorphology often depends on, or directly tests, assumptions about the nature of the relationships among morphology, performance, and ecology. We discuss three approaches to the study of ecomorphology: morphometry-driven, function-driven, and ecology-driven and study design choices inherent to each approach. We also identify 10 assumptions that underlie ecomorphological research: 4 of these are central to all ecomorphological studies and the remaining 6 are variably applicable to some of the specific approaches described above. We discuss how these assumptions may impact ecomorphological studies and affect the interpretation of their findings. We also point out some limitations of ecomorphological studies, and highlight some ways by which we can strengthen, validate, or eliminate systematic assumptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kara L Feilich
- Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Hernán López-Fernández
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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11
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Žliobaitė I. Concept drift over geological times: predictive modeling baselines for analyzing the mammalian fossil record. Data Min Knowl Discov 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10618-018-0606-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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12
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Polly PD. Marsupial responses to global aridification. Science 2018; 362:25-26. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aav1602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Tooth evolution in Australian kangaroos was a late response to climate change in the Neogene
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Affiliation(s)
- P. David Polly
- Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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13
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Blonder B, Enquist BJ, Graae BJ, Kattge J, Maitner BS, Morueta-Holme N, Ordonez A, Šímová I, Singarayer J, Svenning JC, Valdes PJ, Violle C. Late Quaternary climate legacies in contemporary plant functional composition. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:4827-4840. [PMID: 30058198 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2018] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The functional composition of plant communities is commonly thought to be determined by contemporary climate. However, if rates of climate-driven immigration and/or exclusion of species are slow, then contemporary functional composition may be explained by paleoclimate as well as by contemporary climate. We tested this idea by coupling contemporary maps of plant functional trait composition across North and South America to paleoclimate means and temporal variation in temperature and precipitation from the Last Interglacial (120 ka) to the present. Paleoclimate predictors strongly improved prediction of contemporary functional composition compared to contemporary climate predictors, with a stronger influence of temperature in North America (especially during periods of ice melting) and of precipitation in South America (across all times). Thus, climate from tens of thousands of years ago influences contemporary functional composition via slow assemblage dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Blonder
- Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Brian J Enquist
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
| | - Bente J Graae
- Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jens Kattge
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Brian S Maitner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
| | - Naia Morueta-Holme
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Alejandro Ordonez
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
- School of Biological Sciences, Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
| | - Irena Šímová
- Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Joy Singarayer
- Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Paul J Valdes
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Cyrille Violle
- CNRS, CEFE, Université de Montpellier - Université Paul Valéry - EPHE, Montpellier, France
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14
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Sixty-one thousand recent planktonic foraminifera from the Atlantic Ocean. Sci Data 2018; 5:180109. [PMID: 30152812 PMCID: PMC6111889 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine microfossils record the environmental, ecological, and evolutionary dynamics of past oceans in temporally expanded sedimentary archives. Rapid imaging approaches provide a means of exploiting the primary advantage of this archive, the vast number of fossils, for evolution and ecology. Here we provide the first large scale image and 2D and 3D shape dataset of modern planktonic foraminifera, a major microfossil group, from 34 Atlantic Ocean sediment samples. Information on more than 124,000 objects is provided, including general object classification for 4/5ths of the dataset (~ 99,000 objects). Of the ~ 99,000 classifications provided, more than 61,000 are complete or damaged planktonic foraminifera. Objects also include benthic foraminifera, ostracods, pteropods, spicules, and planktonic foraminifera test fragments, among others. This dataset is the first major microfossil output of a new high-throughput imaging method (AutoMorph) developed to extract 2D and 3D data from photographic images of fossils. Our sample preparation and imaging techniques are described in detail. The data provided here comprises the most extensive publically available archive of planktonic foraminiferal morphology and morphological variation to date.
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15
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Reconstructing Paleoclimate and Paleoecology Using Fossil Leaves. VERTEBRATE PALEOBIOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-94265-0_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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16
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Calamari ZT, Fossum R. Shape disparity of bovid (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) horn sheaths and horn cores allows discrimination by species in 3D geometric morphometric analyses. J Morphol 2017; 279:361-374. [DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 11/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zachary T. Calamari
- Richard Gilder Graduate School and Division of PaleontologyAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNY USA
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17
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Hsiang AY, Nelson K, Elder LE, Sibert EC, Kahanamoku SS, Burke JE, Kelly A, Liu Y, Hull PM. AutoMorph
: Accelerating morphometrics with automated 2D and 3D image processing and shape extraction. Methods Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Allison Y. Hsiang
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
- Department of Bioinformatics and GeneticsSwedish Museum of Natural History Stockholm Sweden
| | - Kaylea Nelson
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
| | - Leanne E. Elder
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
| | - Elizabeth C. Sibert
- Harvard Society of FellowsHarvard University Cambridge MA USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesHarvard University Cambridge MA USA
| | - Sara S. Kahanamoku
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of PaleontologyUniversity of California Berkeley CA USA
| | - Janet E. Burke
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
| | - Abigail Kelly
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Balboa Panama
| | - Yusu Liu
- Department of Materials Science and EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA
| | - Pincelli M. Hull
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale University New Haven CT USA
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18
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Abstract
During the evolution of the lichen symbiosis, shifts from one main type of photobiont to another were infrequent (Miadlikowska et al. ) but some remarkable transitions from green algal to diazotrophic cyanobacterial photobionts are known from unrelated fungal clades within the ascomycetes. Cyanobacterial, including tripartite, associations (green algal and cyanobacterial photobionts in one lichen individual) facilitate these holobionts to live as C- and N-autotrophs. Tripartite lichens are among the most productive lichens, which provide N-fertilization to forest ecosystems under oceanic climates (Peltigerales) or deliver low, but ecologically significant N-input into subarctic and alpine soil communities (Lecanorales, Agyriales). In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Schneider et al. (2016) mapped morphometric data against an eight-locus fungal phylogeny across a transition of photobiont interactions from green algal to a tripartite association and used a phylogenetic comparative framework to explore the role of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria in size differences in the Trapelia-Placopsis clade (Agyriales). Within the group of tripartite species, the volume of cyanobacteria-containing structures (cephalodia) correlates with thallus thickness in both phylogenetic generalized least squares and phylogenetic generalized linear mixed-effects analyses, and the fruiting body core volume increased ninefold. The authors conclude that cyanobacterial symbiosis appears to have enabled lichens to overcome size constraints in oligotrophic environments such as rock surfaces. The Trapelia-Placopsis clade analyzed by Schneider et al. (2016) is an exciting example of interactions between ecology, phylogeny and lichen biology including development - from thin crustose green algal microlichens to thick placodioid, tripartite macrolichens: as thick as three in a bed (Scott ).
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Scheidegger
- Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL, Zürcherstr. 111, Birmensdorf, CH-8903, Switzerland
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19
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Eronen JT, Zohdy S, Evans AR, Tecot SR, Wright PC, Jernvall J. Feeding Ecology and Morphology Make a Bamboo Specialist Vulnerable to Climate Change. Curr Biol 2017; 27:3384-3389.e2. [PMID: 29107552 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2017] [Revised: 09/20/2017] [Accepted: 09/22/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Animals with dietary specializations can be used to link climate to specific ecological drivers of endangerment. Only two mammals, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in Asia and the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) in Madagascar, consume the nutritionally poor and mechanically challenging culm or trunk of woody bamboos [1-3]. Even though the greater bamboo lemur is critically endangered, paleontological evidence shows that it was once broadly distributed [4, 5]. Here, integrating morphological, paleontological, and ecological evidence, we project the effects of climate change on greater bamboo lemurs. Both the giant panda and the greater bamboo lemur are shown to share diagnostic dental features indicative of a bamboo diet, thereby providing an ecometric indicator [6, 7] of diet preserved in the fossil record. Analyses of bamboo feeding in living populations show that bamboo culm is consumed only during the dry season and that the greater bamboo lemur is currently found in regions with the shortest dry season. In contrast, paleontological localities of the greater bamboo lemurs have the longest dry seasons. Future projections show that many present-day greater bamboo lemur populations will experience prolonged dry seasons similar to those of the localities where only fossils of the greater bamboo lemur are found. Whereas abundant foods such as bamboo allow feeding specialists to thrive, even a moderate change in seasonality may outstrip the capacity of greater bamboo lemurs to persist on their mechanically demanding food source. Coupling known changes in species distribution with high-resolution ecological and historical data helps to identify extinction risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jussi T Eronen
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Bios Research Unit, Meritullintori 6, 00170 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sarah Zohdy
- School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, 1130 Wire Road, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
| | - Alistair R Evans
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, 18 Innovation Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia; Sciences Department, Museums Victoria, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
| | - Stacey R Tecot
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1009 East South Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Patricia C Wright
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Social and Behavioral Science Building, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Ifanadiana 312, Madagascar.
| | - Jukka Jernvall
- Developmental Biology Program, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
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Fortelius M, Žliobaitė I, Kaya F, Bibi F, Bobe R, Leakey L, Leakey M, Patterson D, Rannikko J, Werdelin L. An ecometric analysis of the fossil mammal record of the Turkana Basin. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0232. [PMID: 27298463 PMCID: PMC4920289 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Although ecometric methods have been used to analyse fossil mammal faunas and environments of Eurasia and North America, such methods have not yet been applied to the rich fossil mammal record of eastern Africa. Here we report results from analysis of a combined dataset spanning east and west Turkana from Kenya between 7 and 1 million years ago (Ma). We provide temporally and spatially resolved estimates of temperature and precipitation and discuss their relationship to patterns of faunal change, and propose a new hypothesis to explain the lack of a temperature trend. We suggest that the regionally arid Turkana Basin may between 4 and 2 Ma have acted as a ‘species factory’, generating ecological adaptations in advance of the global trend. We show a persistent difference between the eastern and western sides of the Turkana Basin and suggest that the wetlands of the shallow eastern side could have provided additional humidity to the terrestrial ecosystems. Pending further research, a transient episode of faunal change centred at the time of the KBS Member (1.87–1.53 Ma), may be equally plausibly attributed to climate change or to a top-down ecological cascade initiated by the entry of technologically sophisticated humans. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Fortelius
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, Helsinki 00014, Finland Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066 Blindern, Oslo 0316, Norway Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin 10115, Germany
| | - Indrė Žliobaitė
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, Helsinki 00014, Finland Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, PO Box 15600, Aalto 00076, Finland
| | - Ferhat Kaya
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, Helsinki 00014, Finland
| | - Faysal Bibi
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin 10115, Germany
| | - René Bobe
- Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Louise Leakey
- Turkana Basin Institute, Nairobi, Kenya Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Meave Leakey
- Turkana Basin Institute, Nairobi, Kenya Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - David Patterson
- Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Janina Rannikko
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, Helsinki 00014, Finland
| | - Lars Werdelin
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm 104 05, Sweden
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21
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Nowak RS, Nowak CL, Tausch RJ. Vegetation dynamics during last 35,000 years at a cold desert locale: preferential loss of forbs with increased aridity. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Robert S. Nowak
- Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences University of Nevada Reno MS 186, 1664 North Virginia Street Reno Nevada 89557 USA
| | - Cheryl L. Nowak
- U.S. Forest Service Great Basin Research Laboratory 920 Valley Road Reno Nevada 89521 USA
| | - Robin J. Tausch
- U.S. Forest Service Great Basin Research Laboratory 920 Valley Road Reno Nevada 89521 USA
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22
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Magnus LZ, Machado RF, Cáceres N. Comparative ecogeographical variation in skull size and shape of two species of woolly opossums (genus Caluromys). ZOOL ANZ 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcz.2017.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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23
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Hsiang AY, Elder LE, Hull PM. Towards a morphological metric of assemblage dynamics in the fossil record: a test case using planktonic foraminifera. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150227. [PMID: 26977067 PMCID: PMC4810820 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
With a glance, even the novice naturalist can tell you something about the ecology of a given ecosystem. This is because the morphology of individuals reflects their evolutionary history and ecology, and imparts a distinct ‘look’ to communities—making it possible to immediately discern between deserts and forests, or coral reefs and abyssal plains. Once quantified, morphology can provide a common metric for characterizing communities across space and time and, if measured rapidly, serve as a powerful tool for quantifying biotic dynamics. Here, we present and test a new high-throughput approach for analysing community shape in the fossil record using semi-three-dimensional (3D) morphometrics from vertically stacked images (light microscopic or photogrammetric). We assess the potential informativeness of community morphology in a first analysis of the relationship between 3D morphology, ecology and phylogeny in 16 extant species of planktonic foraminifera—an abundant group in the marine fossil record—and in a preliminary comparison of four assemblages from the North Atlantic. In the species examined, phylogenetic relatedness was most closely correlated with ecology, with all three ecological traits examined (depth habitat, symbiont ecology and biogeography) showing significant phylogenetic signal. By contrast, morphological trees (based on 3D shape similarity) were relatively distantly related to both ecology and phylogeny. Although improvements are needed to realize the full utility of community morphometrics, our approach already provides robust volumetric measurements of assemblage size, a key ecological characteristic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison Y Hsiang
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
| | - Leanne E Elder
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
| | - Pincelli M Hull
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
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Abstract
A major focus in evolutionary biology is to understand how the evolution of organisms relates to changes in their physical environment. In the terrestrial realm, the interrelationships among climate, vegetation, and herbivores lie at the heart of this question. Here we introduce and test a scoring scheme for functional traits present on the worn surfaces of large mammalian herbivore teeth to capture their relationship to environmental conditions. We modeled local precipitation, temperature, primary productivity, and vegetation index as functions of dental traits of large mammal species in 13 national parks in Kenya over the past 60 y. We found that these dental traits can accurately estimate local climate and environment, even at small spatial scales within areas of relatively uniform climate (within two ecoregions), and that they predict limiting conditions better than average conditions. These findings demonstrate that the evolution of key functional properties of organisms may be more reflective of demands during recurring adverse episodes than under average conditions or during isolated severe events.
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25
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Asymmetric ecological conditions favor Red-Queen type of continued evolution over stasis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:1847-52. [PMID: 26831108 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1525395113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Four decades ago, Leigh Van Valen presented the Red Queen's hypothesis to account for evolution of species within a multispecies ecological community [Van Valen L (1973) Evol Theory 1(1):1-30]. The overall conclusion of Van Valen's analysis was that evolution would continue even in the absence of abiotic perturbations. Stenseth and Maynard Smith presented in 1984 [Stenseth NC, Maynard Smith J (1984) Evolution 38(4):870-880] a model for the Red Queen's hypothesis showing that both Red-Queen type of continuous evolution and stasis could result from a model with biotically driven evolution. However, although that contribution demonstrated that both evolutionary outcomes were possible, it did not identify which ecological conditions would lead to each of these evolutionary outcomes. Here, we provide, using a simple, yet general population-biologically founded eco-evolutionary model, such analytically derived conditions: Stasis will predominantly emerge whenever the ecological system contains only symmetric ecological interactions, whereas both Red-Queen and stasis type of evolution may result if the ecological interactions are asymmetrical, and more likely so with increasing degree of asymmetry in the ecological system (i.e., the more trophic interactions, host-pathogen interactions, and the like there are [i.e., +/- type of ecological interactions as well as asymmetric competitive (-/-) and mutualistic (+/+) ecological interactions]). In the special case of no between-generational genetic variance, our results also predict dynamics within these types of purely ecological systems.
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Polly PD, Lawing AM, Eronen JT, Schnitzler J. Processes of ecometric patterning: modelling functional traits, environments, and clade dynamics in deep time. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- P. David Polly
- Departments of Geological Sciences, Biology and Anthropology; Indiana University; 1001 E. 10th Street Bloomington IN 47405 USA
| | - A. Michelle Lawing
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management; Spatial Sciences Laboratory; Texas A&M University; 1500 Research Parkway Suite 223 B 2120 TAMU College Station TX 77843-2120 USA
| | - Jussi T. Eronen
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F); Senckenberganlage 25 D-60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany
| | - Jan Schnitzler
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F); Senckenberganlage 25 D-60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany
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Meachen JA, Roberts TE. A novel multiscale assessment of community assembly across time, space, and functional niche. Am Nat 2014; 183:585-99. [PMID: 24739192 DOI: 10.1086/675758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
A basic ecological tenet is that organisms in a community occupy different niches and have different traits, but how consistently competition, selection, and phylogenetic effects structure communities remains uncertain. Are all communities created equal? We examine how mammalian carnivoran communities are assembled with regard to mass, diet, and locomotion. Here, we use a multivariate nearest-neighbor framework to examine multiple North American localities spanning 3 million years to determine whether community assembly is consistent through time and four modern localities around the world to assess the effects of habitat. Additionally, we examined how trait patterns differ among families and how family-level evolutionary effects affect them. We found some broadly consistent patterns, although differences are more pronounced than similarities. Diet is more affected by evolutionary constraints than by time or place. Locomotion is most affected by habitat, and the ability to partition niches is related to habitat heterogeneity. Mass is influenced by family, but also by habitat and the mass-selective extinction events at the end-Pleistocene. These findings indicate that assembly patterns are not largely determined by within-community interactions but instead show that each community is a product of its independent variables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Meachen
- Marshall University, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Pathology, Huntington, West Virginia 25704
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28
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Polly PD, Sarwar S. Extinction, Extirpation, and Exotics: Effects on the Correlation between Traits and Environment at the Continental Level. ANN ZOOL FENN 2014. [DOI: 10.5735/086.051.0221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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29
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Donner K. Between Hard Rock and Open Space: Constraints and Freedom of Finnish Paleontology. ANN ZOOL FENN 2014. [DOI: 10.5735/086.051.0202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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30
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Teplitsky C, Millien V. Climate warming and Bergmann's rule through time: is there any evidence? Evol Appl 2013; 7:156-68. [PMID: 24454554 PMCID: PMC3894904 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2013] [Accepted: 10/10/2013] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate change is expected to induce many ecological and evolutionary changes. Among these is the hypothesis that climate warming will cause a reduction in body size. This hypothesis stems from Bergmann's rule, a trend whereby species exhibit a smaller body size in warmer climates, and larger body size under colder conditions in endotherms. The mechanisms behind this rule are still debated, and it is not clear whether Bergmann's rule can be extended to predict the effects of climate change through time. We reviewed the primary literature for evidence (i) of a decrease in body size in response to climate warming, (ii) that changing body size is an adaptive response and (iii) that these responses are evolutionary or plastic. We found weak evidence for changes in body size through time as predicted by Bergmann's rule. Only three studies investigated the adaptive nature of these size decreases. Of these, none reported evidence of selection for smaller size or of a genetic basis for the size change, suggesting that size decreases could be due to nonadaptive plasticity in response to changing environmental conditions. More studies are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about the underlying causes of these changes in body size in response to a warming climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celine Teplitsky
- Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité UMR 7204 CNRS/MNHN/UPMC, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris, France
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31
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Exploring the mammalian sensory space: co-operations and trade-offs among senses. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2013; 199:1077-92. [PMID: 24043357 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-013-0846-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2012] [Revised: 07/29/2013] [Accepted: 08/03/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of a particular sensory organ is often discussed with no consideration of the roles played by other senses. Here, we treat mammalian vision, olfaction and hearing as an interconnected whole, a three-dimensional sensory space, evolving in response to ecological challenges. Until now, there has been no quantitative method for estimating how much a particular animal invests in its different senses. We propose an anatomical measure based on sensory organ sizes. Dimensions of functional importance are defined and measured, and normalized in relation to animal mass. For 119 taxonomically and ecologically diverse species, we can define the position of the species in a three-dimensional sensory space. Thus, we can ask questions related to possible trade-off vs. co-operation among senses. More generally, our method allows morphologists to identify sensory organ combinations that are characteristic of particular ecological niches. After normalization for animal size, we note that arboreal mammals tend to have larger eyes and smaller noses than terrestrial mammals. On the other hand, we observe a strong correlation between eyes and ears, indicating that co-operation between vision and hearing is a general mammalian feature. For some groups of mammals we note a correlation, and possible co-operation between olfaction and whiskers.
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Davies AL, Colombo S, Hanley N. Improving the application of long-term ecology in conservation and land management. J Appl Ecol 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Althea L. Davies
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Stirling; Stirling FK9 4LA UK
| | - Sergio Colombo
- Department of Agricultural Economics; IFAPA; Junta de Andalusia; Granada Spain
| | - Nick Hanley
- Economics Division; Stirling Management School; University of Stirling; Stirling FK9 4LA UK
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Alvarado-Serrano DF, Luna L, Knowles LL. Localized versus generalist phenotypes in a broadly distributed tropical mammal: how is intraspecific variation distributed across disparate environments? BMC Evol Biol 2013; 13:160. [PMID: 23899319 PMCID: PMC3737017 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2012] [Accepted: 07/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The extent of phenotypic differentiation in response to local environmental conditions is a key component of species adaptation and persistence. Understanding the structuring of phenotypic diversity in response to local environmental pressures can provide important insights into species evolutionary dynamics and responses to environmental change. This work examines the influence of steep environmental gradients on intraspecific phenotypic variation and tests two hypotheses about how the tropical soft grass mouse, Akodon mollis (Cricetidae, Rodentia), contends with the disparate environmental conditions encompassed by its broad distribution. Specifically, we test if the species expresses a geographically unstructured, or generalist, phenotype throughout its range or if it shows geographically localized morphological differentiation across disparate environments. RESULTS Using geometric morphometric and ecomorphological analyses of skull shape variation we found that despite distinct environmental conditions, geographically structured morphological variation is limited, with the notable exception of a distinct morphological disjunction at the high-elevation forest-grassland transition in the southern portion of A. mollis distribution. Based on genetic analyses, geographic isolation alone does not explain this localized phenotype, given that similar levels of genetic differentiation were also observed among individuals inhabiting other ecosystems that are nonetheless not distinct morphologically. CONCLUSIONS Instead of phenotypic specialization across environments in these tropical mountains, there was limited differentiation of skull shape and size across the broad range of A. mollis, with the exception of individuals from the puna, the highest-elevation ecosystem. The high morphological variance among individuals, together with a weak association with local environmental conditions, not only highlights the flexibility of A. mollis' skull, but also highlights the need for further study to understand what maintains the observed morphological patterns. The work also indicates that mechanisms other than processes linked to local ecological specialization as a driver of diversification may contribute to the high diversity of this tropical region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego F Alvarado-Serrano
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
| | - Lucia Luna
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
| | - L Lacey Knowles
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
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Fritz SA, Schnitzler J, Eronen JT, Hof C, Böhning-Gaese K, Graham CH. Diversity in time and space: wanted dead and alive. Trends Ecol Evol 2013; 28:509-16. [PMID: 23726658 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2013.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2013] [Revised: 04/24/2013] [Accepted: 05/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Current patterns of biological diversity are influenced by both historical and present-day factors, yet research in ecology and evolution is largely split between paleontological and neontological studies. Responding to recent calls for integration, we provide a conceptual framework that capitalizes on data and methods from both disciplines to investigate fundamental processes. We highlight the opportunities arising from a combined approach with four examples: (i) which mechanisms generate spatial and temporal variation in diversity; (ii) how traits evolve; (iii) what determines the temporal dynamics of geographical ranges and ecological niches; and (iv) how species-environment and biotic interactions shape community structure. Our framework provides conceptual guidelines for combining paleontological and neontological perspectives to unravel the fundamental processes shaping life on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne A Fritz
- Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany.
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35
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Liu L, Puolamäki K, Eronen JT, Ataabadi MM, Hernesniemi E, Fortelius M. Dental functional traits of mammals resolve productivity in terrestrial ecosystems past and present. Proc Biol Sci 2012; 279:2793-9. [PMID: 22456884 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We have recently shown that rainfall, one of the main climatic determinants of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP), can be robustly estimated from mean molar tooth crown height (hypsodonty) of mammalian herbivores. Here, we show that another functional trait of herbivore molar surfaces, longitudinal loph count, can be similarly used to extract reasonable estimates of rainfall but also of temperature, the other main climatic determinant of terrestrial NPP. Together, molar height and the number of longitudinal lophs explain 73 per cent of the global variation in terrestrial NPP today and resolve the main terrestrial biomes in bivariate space. We explain the functional interpretation of the relationships between dental function and climate variables in terms of long- and short-term demands. We also show how the spatially and temporally dense fossil record of terrestrial mammals can be used to investigate the relationship between biodiversity and productivity under changing climates in geological time. The placement of the fossil chronofaunas in biome space suggests that they most probably represent multiple palaeobiomes, at least some of which do not correspond directly to any biomes of today's world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liping Liu
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
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37
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Velez-Juarbe J, Domning DP, Pyenson ND. Iterative evolution of sympatric seacow (Dugongidae, Sirenia) assemblages during the past ~26 million years. PLoS One 2012; 7:e31294. [PMID: 22319622 PMCID: PMC3272043 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2011] [Accepted: 01/05/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Extant sirenians show allopatric distributions throughout most of their range. However, their fossil record shows evidence of multispecies communities throughout most of the past ∼26 million years, in different oceanic basins. Morphological differences among co-occurring sirenian taxa suggest that resource partitioning played a role in structuring these communities. We examined body size and ecomorphological differences (e.g., rostral deflection and tusk morphology) among sirenian assemblages from the late Oligocene of Florida, early Miocene of India and early Pliocene of Mexico; each with three species of the family Dugongidae. Although overlapping in several ecomorphological traits, each assemblage showed at least one dominant trait in which coexisting species differed. Fossil sirenian occurrences occasionally are monotypic, but the assemblages analyzed herein show iterative evolution of multispecies communities, a phenomenon unparalleled in extant sirenian ecology. As primary consumers of seagrasses, these communities likely had a strong impact on past seagrass ecology and diversity, although the sparse fossil record of seagrasses limits direct comparisons. Nonetheless, our results provide robust support for previous suggestions that some sirenians in these extinct assemblages served as keystone species, controlling the dominance of climax seagrass species, permitting more taxonomically diverse seagrass beds (and sirenian communities) than many of those observed today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Velez-Juarbe
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Anatomy, Howard University, Washington, D.C., United States of America.
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38
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Wilson LAB. The contribution of developmental palaeontology to extensions of evolutionary theory. ACTA ZOOL-STOCKHOLM 2011. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6395.2011.00539.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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