Does exceptional preservation distort our view of disparity in the fossil record?

Flannery-Sutherland, Joseph; Moon, Benjamin C.; Stubbs, Thomas L.; Benton, Michael J.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.0091

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In addition, a recent study of ichthyosaur morphological disparity showed that patterns are generally consistent even when taxa known only from exceptionally fossiliferous formations are removed (Flannery Sutherland et al . 2019). In our study, it is clear that generic diversity is not directly linked with ecological disparity (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

et al. 2020

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Ecology and morphology are different, and yet in comparative studies of fossil vertebrates the two are often conflated. The macroevolution of Mesozoic marine tetrapods has been explored in terms of morphological disparity, but less commonly using ecological‐functional categories. Here we use ecospace modelling to quantify ecological disparity across all Mesozoic marine tetrapods. We document the explosive radiation of marine tetrapod groups in the Triassic and their rapid attainment of high ecological disparity. Late Triassic extinctions led to a marked decline in ecological disparity, and the recovery of ecospace and ecological disparity was sluggish in the Early Jurassic. High levels of ecological disparity were again achieved by the Late Jurassic and maintained during the Cretaceous, when the ecospace became saturated by the Late Cretaceous. Sauropterygians, turtles and ichthyosauromorphs were the largest contributors to ecological disparity. Throughout the Mesozoic, we find that established groups remained ecologically conservative and did not explore occupied or vacant niches. Several parts of the ecospace remained vacant for long spans of time. Newly evolved, radiating taxa almost exclusively explored unoccupied ecospace, suggesting that abiotic releases are needed to empty niches and initiate diversification. In the balance of evolutionary drivers in Mesozoic marine tetrapods, abiotic factors were key to initiating diversification events, but biotic factors dominated the subsequent generation of ecological diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2018; Flannery Sutherland et al . 2019; Moon & Stubbs 2020), ecospace modelling has only been used in one study of ichthyosaurs (Dick & Maxwell 2015). The aim of this study is to produce the first, holistic, high resolution record of ecospace occupancy and ecological disparity of marine tetrapods throughout the Mesozoic.…”

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Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

et al. 2020

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“…Large amounts of missing data, usually above 25%, considerably reduce the overall distance between taxa that can be captured on ordination spaces on both empirical and simulated data sets 47,59 . To reduce the negative impact of missing data, we removed all characters with more than 30% of missing data from the data set, which resulted in a total of 19% missing data on the final data set—safely below the threshold of 25% 47,59,60 . Additionally, inapplicable characters are a big conceptual problem to construct a morphospace.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Megaevolutionary dynamics in reptiles and the role of adaptive radiations in evolutionary innovation

Vernygora

et al. 2020

Preprint

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13Adaptive radiations are long believed to be responsible for the origin of phenotypic diversity and 14 new body plans among higher clades in the fossil record. However, few studies have assessed 15 rates of phenotypic evolution and disparity across broad scales of time to understand the 16 evolutionary dynamics behind the origin of major clades, or how they relate to rates of molecular 17 evolution. Here, we provide a total evidence approach to this problem using the largest available 18 data set on diapsid reptiles. We find a strong decoupling between phenotypic and molecular rates 19 of evolution, with many periods of accelerated phenotypic evolution or expansion of phenotypic 20 disparity at the origin of major reptile clades and body plans that do not correspond to periods of 21 adaptive radiation. We find heterogeneous rates of evolution during the acquisition of similarly 22 23 evolutionary rates. 24 25 26The classical theory of adaptive radiation predicts that such events are characterized by 27 high rates of phenotypic evolution, in combination with an expansion in phenotypic disparity and 28 taxonomic diversity, as new species rapidly transforming to occupy available adaptive zones 29 during times of ecological opportunity 1,2 . Across geological timescales, lineages undergoing 30 exceptionally fast evolutionary rates would give rise to many new lineages, with some of these 31 fast-evolving lineages potentially going extinct. Once niches are occupied, phenotypic disparity 32 stabilizes and species diversification and evolutionary rates decrease and stabilize at lower 33 levels 1 . It has long been assumed that the aftermath of mass extinctions would provide the ideal 34 ecological opportunities for adaptive radiations 1,3 , such as the diversification of placental 35 mammals after the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction (KPME), or the appearance of several 36 reptile lineages in the fossil record following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) 2,3 . 37Therefore, adaptive radiations have long been hypothesized to be responsible for the origin of 38 most of biological diversity (in both taxonomic and phenotypic terms), especially regarding the 39 origin of higher clades (e.g. families or orders) and new body plans, or what Simpson had 40 originally referred to as "mega-evolutionary" processes 4 . 41Although the concept of adaptive radiations is fundamental to our understanding of 42 evolutionary theory, only recently have quantitative tools been developed to rigorously test its 43 predictions at broad taxonomic and deep time scales in the evolutionary paleobiology. For 44 instance, using both relaxed clocks and phylogenetic comparative methods various studies have 45 3 found high rates of evolution at the origin of major clades, including the early evolution of birds, 46 arthropods, and crown placental mammals 5-7 . Fast evolutionary rates during putative periods of 47 adaptive radiations following mass extinctions have also been recovered, such as the radiation of 48 birds 8 and placental mammals...

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“…Missing data in correspondence analyses are typically handled via column average substitution. However, this can result in “centroid slippage” (Flannery Sutherland et al 2019), in which incomplete taxa plot closer to the origin than they should. This can be especially problematic when more than one major clade is being analyzed, as in this study, as missing values are reconstructed using all groups, potentially overinflating morphological disparity and creating phylogenetically incongruous scenarios.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strangers in a strange land: Ecological dissimilarity to metatherian carnivores may partly explain early colonization of South America by Cyonasua-group procyonids

Engelman

Croft

2019

Paleobiology

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It was once thought that the endemic carnivorous mammals of South America, the metatherian sparassodonts, were driven extinct by North American carnivorans through competitive exclusion. However, sparassodonts went extinct before most groups of carnivorans entered South America; only the endemic Cyonasua-group procyonids (Cyonasua and Chapalmalania), which immigrated to South America nearly 4 million years earlier than other carnivorans, significantly overlapped with sparassodonts in time. In this study, we examine the functional morphology of the dentition of Cyonasua and Chapalmalania through quantitative analysis to determine the dietary habits of these taxa and the degree to which they may have ecologically overlapped sparassodonts and large predatory Neogene didelphimorphians. We find Cyonasua and Chapalmalania to be more carnivorous than extant procyonids, other than Bassariscus, in agreement with previous studies, but more omnivorous than most other carnivorans and all meat-eating South American metatherians, including sparassodonts. The extreme ecological dissimilarity between Cyonasua-group procyonids and members of the endemic South American predator guild may explain why procyonids were able to successfully establish themselves in South America several million years earlier than most other northern mammals (including all other carnivorans): they moved into a previously unoccupied ecological niche (large omnivore) and avoided direct competition with incumbent native species, a situation similar to that documented in historical cases of biological invasion. The omnivorous diets and climbing/swimming abilities of procyonids may have increased their chances for a successful over-water dispersal relative to other carnivorans, further favoring their successful establishment in South America.

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Does exceptional preservation distort our view of disparity in the fossil record?

Cited by 24 publications

References 44 publications

Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

Megaevolutionary dynamics in reptiles and the role of adaptive radiations in evolutionary innovation

Strangers in a strange land: Ecological dissimilarity to metatherian carnivores may partly explain early colonization of South America by Cyonasua-group procyonids

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