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Robert A. Building references for nature conservation. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024; 38:e14202. [PMID: 37811723 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Conservation references have long been used in conservation biology to compare current biodiversity processes and states with past conditions. However, beyond the paucity of data for the construction of ancient, even prehuman, references, the relevance of these ancient references for studying ecosystems radically modified by human activities is questionable, particularly when the notions of conservation references and conservation objectives are confused and when several conservation ethics coexist that require distinct references. Because of this implicit heterogeneity in the nature of the references and their temporal baseline, conservation references not only have different meanings, but also deliver different messages. I propose establishing a common framework for conservation references to approach past biological systems and build comparable references between studies and projects. The selection of these references (distinct from conservation objectives) should be an early, explicit, standardized, and transparent milestone in any conservation process and these references should be based on state, pressure, or process dynamics, rather than fixed states. Finally, the importance of the diversity of temporal baselines used to build conservation references and to measure anthropogenic impacts should be recognized to understand the biodiversity crisis in its entirety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Robert
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
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Weppe R, Condamine FL, Guinot G, Maugoust J, Orliac MJ. Drivers of the artiodactyl turnover in insular western Europe at the Eocene-Oligocene Transition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2309945120. [PMID: 38109543 PMCID: PMC10756263 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309945120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Simultaneously investigating the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on diversity dynamics is essential to understand the evolutionary history of clades. The Grande Coupure corresponds to a major faunal turnover at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) (~34.1 to 33.55 Mya) and is defined in western Europe as an extinction of insular European mammals coupled with the arrival of crown clades from Asia. Here, we focused on the species-rich group of endemic European artiodactyls to determine the drivers of the Grande Coupure during the major environmental disruptions at the EOT. Using Bayesian birth-death models, we analyzed an original high-resolution fossil dataset (90 species, >2,100 occurrences) from southwestern France (Quercy area) and estimated the regional diversification and diversity dynamics of endemic and immigrant artiodactyls. We show that the endemic artiodactyl radiation was mainly related to the Eocene tropical conditions, combined with biotic controls on speciation and clade-related diversity dependence. We further highlight that the major environmental changes at the transition (77% of species became extinct) and the concurrent increase in seasonality in Europe during the Oligocene were likely the main drivers of their decline. Surprisingly, our results do not support the widely-held hypothesis of active competition between endemic and immigrant artiodactyls but rather suggest a passive or opportunistic replacement by immigrants, which is further supported by morphological clustering of specific ecological traits across the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Our analyses provide insights into the evolutionary and ecological processes driving the diversification and decline of mammalian clades during a major biological and climatic crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Weppe
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier Cedex 534095, France
| | - Fabien L. Condamine
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier Cedex 534095, France
| | - Guillaume Guinot
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier Cedex 534095, France
| | - Jacob Maugoust
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier Cedex 534095, France
| | - Maëva J. Orliac
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier Cedex 534095, France
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Weppe R, Orliac MJ, Guinot G, Condamine FL. Evolutionary drivers, morphological evolution and diversity dynamics of a surviving mammal clade: cainotherioids at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210173. [PMID: 34074121 PMCID: PMC8170207 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) represents a period of global environmental changes particularly marked in Europe and coincides with a dramatic biotic turnover. Here, using an exceptional fossil preservation, we document and analyse the diversity dynamics of a mammal clade, Cainotherioidea (Artiodactyla), that survived the EOT and radiated rapidly immediately after. We infer their diversification history from Quercy Konzentrat-Lagerstätte (south-west France) at the species level using Bayesian birth-death models. We show that cainotherioid diversity fluctuated through time, with extinction events at the EOT and in the late Oligocene, and a major speciation burst in the early Oligocene. The latter is in line with our finding that cainotherioids had a high morphological adaptability following environmental changes throughout the EOT, which probably played a key role in the survival and evolutionary success of this clade in the aftermath. Speciation is positively associated with temperature and continental fragmentation in a time-continuous way, while extinction seems to synchronize with environmental change in a punctuated way. Within-clade interactions negatively affected the cainotherioid diversification, while inter-clade competition might explain their final decline during the late Oligocene. Our results provide a detailed dynamic picture of the evolutionary history of a mammal clade in a context of global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. Weppe
- Institut des Sciences de l’évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - M. J. Orliac
- Institut des Sciences de l’évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - G. Guinot
- Institut des Sciences de l’évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - F. L. Condamine
- Institut des Sciences de l’évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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Hamilton MJ, Walker RS, Kempes CP. Diversity begets diversity in mammal species and human cultures. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19654. [PMID: 33184380 PMCID: PMC7661729 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76658-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Across the planet the biogeographic distribution of human cultural diversity tends to correlate positively with biodiversity. In this paper we focus on the biogeographic distribution of mammal species and human cultural diversity. We show that not only are these forms of diversity similarly distributed in space, but they both scale superlinearly with environmental production. We develop theory that explains that as environmental productivity increases the ecological kinetics of diversity increases faster than expected because more complex environments are also more interactive. Using biogeographic databases of the global distributions of mammal species and human cultures we test a series of hypotheses derived from this theory and find support for each. For both mammals and cultures, we show that (1) both forms of diversity increase exponentially with ecological kinetics; (2) the kinetics of diversity is faster than the kinetics of productivity; (3) diversity scales superlinearly with environmental productivity; and (4) the kinetics of diversity is faster in increasingly productive environments. This biogeographic convergence is particularly striking because while the dynamics of biological and cultural evolution may be similar in principle the underlying mechanisms and time scales are very different. However, a common currency underlying all forms of diversity is ecological kinetics; the temperature-dependent fluxes of energy and biotic interactions that sustain all forms of life at all levels of organization. Diversity begets diversity in mammal species and human cultures because ecological kinetics drives superlinear scaling with environmental productivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus J Hamilton
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
| | - Robert S Walker
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
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Bravo-Cuevas VM, Jiménez-Hidalgo E. Evolutionary Significance of Equinae From the Mexican Neogene. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Multilocus phylogeny, species age and biogeography of the Lesser Antillean anoles. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2018; 127:682-695. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Hagen O, Andermann T, Quental TB, Antonelli A, Silvestro D. Estimating Age-Dependent Extinction: Contrasting Evidence from Fossils and Phylogenies. Syst Biol 2018; 67:458-474. [PMID: 29069434 PMCID: PMC5920349 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syx082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2016] [Revised: 03/03/2017] [Accepted: 10/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The estimation of diversification rates is one of the most vividly debated topics in modern systematics, with considerable controversy surrounding the power of phylogenetic and fossil-based approaches in estimating extinction. Van Valen's seminal work from 1973 proposed the "Law of constant extinction," which states that the probability of extinction of taxa is not dependent on their age. This assumption of age-independent extinction has prevailed for decades with its assessment based on survivorship curves, which, however, do not directly account for the incompleteness of the fossil record, and have rarely been applied at the species level. Here, we present a Bayesian framework to estimate extinction rates from the fossil record accounting for age-dependent extinction (ADE). Our approach, unlike previous implementations, explicitly models unobserved species and accounts for the effects of fossil preservation on the observed longevity of sampled lineages. We assess the performance and robustness of our method through extensive simulations and apply it to a fossil data set of terrestrial Carnivora spanning the past 40 myr. We find strong evidence of ADE, as we detect the extinction rate to be highest in young species and declining with increasing species age. For comparison, we apply a recently developed analogous ADE model to a dated phylogeny of extant Carnivora. Although the phylogeny-based analysis also infers ADE, it indicates that the extinction rate, instead, increases with increasing taxon age. The estimated mean species longevity also differs substantially, with the fossil-based analyses estimating 2.0 myr, in contrast to 9.8 myr derived from the phylogeny-based inference. Scrutinizing these discrepancies, we find that both fossil and phylogeny-based ADE models are prone to high error rates when speciation and extinction rates increase or decrease through time. However, analyses of simulated and empirical data show that fossil-based inferences are more robust. This study shows that an accurate estimation of ADE from incomplete fossil data is possible when the effects of preservation are jointly modeled, thus allowing for a reassessment of Van Valen's model as a general rule in macroevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oskar Hagen
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Landscape Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Tobias Andermann
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Tiago B Quental
- Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-900 São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Botanical Garden, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22A, SE-413 19 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
- Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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The earliest ossicone and post-cranial record of Giraffa. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185139. [PMID: 28926638 PMCID: PMC5605118 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The oldest Giraffa material presently known consists of dental specimens. The oldest post-cranial Giraffa material belongs to the Plio-Pleistocene taxon Giraffa sivalensis, where the holotype is a third cervical vertebra. We describe three non-dental specimens from the Early Late Miocene of the Potwar Plateau, including an 8.1 million year old ossicone, 9.4 million year old astragalus, and 8.9 million year old metatarsal and refer them to Giraffa. The described ossicone exhibits remarkable similarities with the ossicones of a juvenile modern giraffe, including the distribution of secondary bone growth, posterior curvature, and concave pitted undersurface where the ossicone would attach to the skull. The astragalus has a notably flat grove of the trochlea, medial twisting between the trochlea and the head, and a square-shaped sustentacular facet, all of which characterize the astragalus of Giraffa camelopardalis. The newly described astragalus is narrow and rectangular, unlike the boxy shaped bone of the modern giraffe. The metatarsal is large in size and has a shallow central trough created by thin medial and lateral ridges, a feature unique to Giraffa and Sivatherium. Our described material introduce the earliest non-dental material of Giraffa, a genus whose extinct representation is otherwise dominated by teeth, and demonstrate that the genus has been morphologically consistent over 9 million years.
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Plotnick RE, Smith FA, Lyons SK. The fossil record of the sixth extinction. Ecol Lett 2016; 19:546-53. [PMID: 26932459 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 12/21/2015] [Accepted: 01/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Comparing the magnitude of the current biodiversity crisis with those in the fossil record is difficult without an understanding of differential preservation. Integrating data from palaeontological databases with information on IUCN status, ecology and life history characteristics of contemporary mammals, we demonstrate that only a small and biased fraction of threatened species (< 9%) have a fossil record, compared with 20% of non-threatened species. We find strong taphonomic biases related to body size and geographic range. Modern species with a fossil record tend to be large and widespread and were described in the 19(th) century. The expected magnitude of the current extinction based only on species with a fossil record is about half of that of one based on all modern species; values for genera are similar. The record of ancient extinctions may be similarly biased, with many species having originated and gone extinct without leaving a tangible record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roy E Plotnick
- Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL, 6060, USA
| | - Felisa A Smith
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - S Kathleen Lyons
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, [NHB, MRC 121], P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA
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Rosenberger AL, Pickering R, Green H, Cooke SB, Tallman M, Morrow A, Rímoli R. 1.32 ± 0.11 Ma age for underwater remains constrain antiquity and longevity of the Dominican primate Antillothrix bernensis. J Hum Evol 2015; 88:85-96. [PMID: 26321147 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2014] [Revised: 04/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Endemic New World monkeys are an important element of the extinct mammal faunas of the Caribbean's Greater Antilles. Here we report the first geochronometric evidence that the primate Antillothrix bernensis existed in the Dominican Republic during the Pleistocene, based on the uranium-series age of carbonate speleothem that encased a tibia when it was collected in a flooded cave. Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics of laser-scanned living and extinct samples provide evidence to support the hypothesis that this specimen and other Dominican primate tibial remains belong to that same species. U-Th dating of the host cave carbonate returns ages consistently at the 600 ka upper limit of the technique. However, U-Pb, capable of resolving ages of greater antiquity, is more robust in this context, returning a secure age of 1.32 ± 0.11 Ma, which is the oldest chronometric age recorded for a Hispaniolan mammal. While its origins and manner and time of arrival are obscure, the morphometric studies are consistent with phylogenetic analyses that place A. bernensis within the pitheciid clade of the platyrrhines. The species apparently endured for over 1 million years during the climatic perturbations of the Pleistocene, as a frugivorous climbing quadruped, one of two known primate species occupying the hazard prone island of Hispaniola.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfred L Rosenberger
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA; The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA; New York Consortium in Primatology (NYCEP), The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA; The American Museum of Natural History, Department of Mammalogy, New York, NY, USA
| | - Robyn Pickering
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
| | - Helen Green
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Siobhán B Cooke
- Department of Anthropology, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL, USA; NYCEP Morphometrics Group (NMG), USA
| | - Melissa Tallman
- NYCEP Morphometrics Group (NMG), USA; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA
| | - Andrea Morrow
- Department of Biology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA; Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Renato Rímoli
- Department of Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), Ciudad Universitaria, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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