Climatic controls on the ecological ascendancy of dinosaurs

Dunne, Emma; Farnsworth, Alexander; Benson, Roger; Godoy, Pedro; Greene, Sarah E.; Valdes, Paul J.; Lunt, Daniel; Butler, Richard J.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Our results indicate that the exploration of thermal niches during this pivotal transition may have been crucial to dinosaurian success thereafter, due to the consequent ecosystem reorganization and increase in bioregional suitability for the thermically unconstrained ornithischians and theropods ( 17 ). When the likely more eurythermal (thermally more adaptable) and widely distributed non-eusauropod sauropodomorphs declined ( 10 , 61 ), the thermophilic eusauropods colonized more tropical latitudes and southern continents ( 17 , 52 ). Our interpretations reconstruct an early migration of genasaurian (Neornithischia+Thyreophora) ornithischians toward cooler niches, with a stronger temporal signal later at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Jurassic origin of avian endothermy and thermophysiological diversity in Dinosauria

Chiarenza,

Cantalapiedra,

Jones

et al. 2023

Preprint

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A fundamental question in dinosaur evolution is how they adapted to substantial long-term shifts in Earth System during the Mesozoic and when they developed environmentally independent, avian-style acclimatization due to the evolution of an endothermic physiology. Combining fossil occurrences with macroevolutionary and paleoclimatic models, we unveil distinct evolutionary pathways in the main dinosaur lineages: ornithischians and theropods diversified across broader climatic landscapes, trending toward cooler niches. An Early Jurassic shift to colder climates in Theropoda suggests an early adoption of endothermic thermophysiology. Conversely, sauropodomorphs exhibited prolonged climatic conservatism associated with higher thermal conditions. Paleo-biome mapping emphasizes temperature, rather than plant productivity, as the primary driver of this pattern, suggesting poikilothermic physiology with a stronger dependence on higher temperatures in sauropods since the Early Jurassic.One-Sentence SummaryDinosaur climatic evolution reveals early endothermy emergence in theropods, ornithischians but heterotherm sauropodomorphs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Jurassic origin of avian endothermy and thermophysiological diversity in Dinosauria

Chiarenza,

Cantalapiedra,

Jones

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…The evolution of the body plan during the Triassic Period has received great attention (Ballell, Rayfield, & Benton, 2022; Bronzati et al, 2019; Cabreira et al, 2016; Damke et al, 2024; McPhee et al, 2018; Müller et al, 2018), especially regarding the acquisition of typical traits related to gigantism (Apaldetti et al, 2018; Lefebvre et al, 2022; Peyre de Fabrègues & Allain, 2020). Some studies examined biogeographical patterns (Griffin et al, 2021; Dunne et al, 2023), whereas others investigated the biology and ecology of the group (Aureliano et al, 2022; Ballell, Benton, & Rayfield, 2022; Bronzati et al, 2017; Cerda et al, 2022; Müller, 2022; Otero et al, 2019; Pol et al, 2021). Most of these studies are based on specimens from Triassic beds of Southern Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On a skeletally immature individual of Unaysaurus tolentinoi (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the upper Triassic of southern Brazil

Müller,

Garcia,

Bem

et al. 2023

The Anatomical Record

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The lineage of sauropodomorph dinosaurs raised some of the most impressive animals that ever walked on Earth. However, the massive titans of the Mesozoic Era originated from far smaller dinosaurs. The Triassic beds from Brazil yielded the earliest part of this evolutionary history. Despite the diverse fossil record of early sauropodomorphs, juvenile specimens, as well as certain species are poorly sampled. This is the case for Unaysaurus tolentinoi, an unaysaurid sauropodomorph from Caturrita Formation (ca. 225 Ma; early Norian, Late Triassic). The holotype and only specimen of U. tolentinoi was excavated from the Água Negra Locality (São Martinho da Serra, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) in 1998. More than two decades later, no other fossil vertebrates have been reported from the same fossiliferous site. Here we describe a skeletally immature specimen which was found in association with the holotype of U. tolentinoi. The specimen was discovered after a first‐hand examination of the holotype and comprises some isolated vertebrae and elements from the posterior autopodium. According to linear regressions, its metatarsal I is approximately 41.7 mm in length, compared to approximately 75.9 mm in the holotype. The repeated elements and reduced size indicates that it does not belong to the elements originally used to erect U. tolentinoi. Rather, the specimen is assigned to U. tolentinoi by topotypy and shared morphology. In addition to the reduced size, distinct lines of evidence (e.g., neurocentral sutures; bone texture) support its assignment to a skeletally immature individual. In sum, the new material expands the record of U. tolentinoi, and represents an additional juvenile dinosaur from the Caturrita Formation.

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“…Alternative drivers of reptile paleobiogeography have been proposed to explain this seemingly contrasting pair of observations. Most notably, trans-Pangaean dispersals of Triassic reptiles, including dinosaurs and their closest relatives within the Archosauria, may have been tightly regulated by cycles of aridification and intense precipitation (e.g., [ 4 , 20 , 21 , 25 , 81 ]), which occasionally turned central Pangaea into a superheated desert belt that restricted migration [ 4 , 14 , 27 , 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Incorporating a phylogenetic approach to biogeography allows for a reconstruction of the stepwise manner in which allopatric divergences occurred. Resultantly, phylogenetics provides a powerful tool for interrogating morphological data to test hypotheses about Triassic Pangean biogeography (e.g., [ 22 , 25 , 27 , 36 ]). Despite the decades-long interest in phytosaur biogeography and stratigraphy [ 6 , 9 , 22 , 23 , 27 , 61 , 85 , 89 ], model-based historical biogeographic reconstructions have never been produced for this clade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A late-surviving phytosaur from the northern Atlantic rift reveals climate constraints on Triassic reptile biogeography

Brownstein

2023

BMC Ecol Evo

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Background The origins of all major living reptile clades, including the one leading to birds, lie in the Triassic. Following the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history at the end of the Permian, the earliest definite members of the three major living reptile clades, the turtles (Testudines), crocodylians and birds (Archosauria), and lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians, and Tuatara (Lepidosauria) appeared. Recent analyses of the Triassic reptile fossil record suggest that the earliest diversifications in all three of these clades were tightly controlled by abrupt paleoclimate fluctuations and concordant environmental changes. Yet, this has only been preliminarily tested using information from evolutionary trees. Phytosauria consists of superficially crocodylian-like archosaurs that either form the sister to the crown or are the earliest divergence on the crocodylian stem and are present throughout the Triassic, making this clade an excellent test case for examining this biogeographic hypothesis. Results Here, I describe a new phytosaur, Jupijkam paleofluvialis gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Triassic of Nova Scotia, Canada, which at that time sat in northern Pangaea near the northern terminus of the great central Pangean rift. As one of the northernmost occurrences of Phytosauria, J. paleofluvialis provides critical new biogeographic data that enables revised estimations of phytosaur historical biogeography along phylogenies of this clade built under multiple methodologies. Reconstructions of phytosaur historical biogeography based on different phylogenies and biogeographic models suggest that phytosaurs originated in northern Pangaea, spread southward, and then dispersed back northward at least once more during the Late Triassic. Conclusions The results presented in this study link phytosaur biogeography to major changes to Triassic global climate and aridity. Together with the earliest dinosaurs and several other reptile lineages, phytosaur diversification and migration appear to have been restricted by the formation and loss of arid belts across the Pangean supercontinent.

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Climatic controls on the ecological ascendancy of dinosaurs

Cited by 12 publications

References 65 publications

Early Jurassic origin of avian endothermy and thermophysiological diversity in Dinosauria

Early Jurassic origin of avian endothermy and thermophysiological diversity in Dinosauria

On a skeletally immature individual of Unaysaurus tolentinoi (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the upper Triassic of southern Brazil

A late-surviving phytosaur from the northern Atlantic rift reveals climate constraints on Triassic reptile biogeography

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