Rates of dinosaur limb evolution provide evidence for exceptional radiation in Mesozoic birds

Benson, Roger B. J.; Choiniere, Jonah N.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1780

Cited by 81 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Morphological characters adaptive to arboreal (enantiornithines) and lake-shore habits (ornithuromorphs) facilitated early diverging members of both clades to invade new niches and thus further drive their morphological diversification [17,49]; however, as ecological niches became increasingly saturated, the rate of morphological change declined [50,51]. Recent comparative phylogenetic studies on body size and limb proportion changes across the dinosaur-bird transition reveal that reduced body size and the acquisition of novel features pertaining to flight have contributed to the sustained morphological and ecological radiation of birds [4,6,7,52]. Although these results came from large phylogenies containing many non-avian dinosaurs, significant shifts in limb proportions and body size in both Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha are suggested.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these the dinosaur-bird transition has seen considerable attention. For example, recent comparative studies indicate that miniaturization along the lineage leading to birds was vital to their Mesozoic radiation and that birds evolved faster than other non-avian dinosaurs [4][5][6][7]. However, these studies focused on single continuous measures (limb proportions and body size), or contained limited numbers of Mesozoic avian taxa, insufficient for exploring detailed features of early bird evolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent availability of larger phylogenetic datasets and numerical approaches that account for temporal variation in sampling have led to an explosion in quantitative approaches to exploring macroevolution in palaeontology [1][2][3][4][5]. Among these the dinosaur-bird transition has seen considerable attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds

Wang

Lloyd

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The Early Cretaceous is a critical interval in the early history of birds. Exceptional fossils indicate that important evolutionary novelties such as a pygostyle and a keeled sternum had already arisen in Early Cretaceous taxa, bridging much of the morphological gap between Archaeopteryx and crown birds. However, detailed features of basal bird evolution remain obscure because of both the small sample of fossil taxa previously considered and a lack of quantitative studies assessing rates of morphological evolution. Here we apply a recently available phylogenetic method and associated sensitivity tests to a large data matrix of morphological characters to quantify rates of morphological evolution in Early Cretaceous birds. Our results reveal that although rates were highly heterogeneous between different Early Cretaceous avian lineages, consistent patterns of significantly high or low rates were harder to pinpoint. Nevertheless, evidence for accelerated evolutionary rates is strongest at the point when Ornithuromorpha (the clade comprises all extant birds and descendants from their most recent common ancestors) split from Enantiornithes (a diverse clade that went extinct at the end-Cretaceous), consistent with the hypothesis that this key split opened up new niches and ultimately led to greater diversity for these two dominant clades of Mesozoic birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds

Wang

Lloyd

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Once a small flight-capable dinosaur had been assembled, there was a huge spike in rates of anatomical evolution in the earliest birds [2]. Later, the early evolution of short-tailed birds (Pygostylia) in the Cretaceous was associated with high rates of hindlimb evolution and greater than normal speciation [91].…”

Section: The Assembly Of the Bird Body Plan And Classic Avian Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Origin and Diversification of Birds

2015

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Birds are one of the most recognizable and diverse groups of modern vertebrates. Over the past two decades, a wealth of new fossil discoveries and phylogenetic and macroevolutionary studies has transformed our understanding of how birds originated and became so successful. Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic (around 165-150 million years ago) and their classic small, lightweight, feathered, and winged body plan was pieced together gradually over tens of millions of years of evolution rather than in one burst of innovation. Early birds diversified throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous, becoming capable fliers with supercharged growth rates, but were decimated at the end-Cretaceous extinction alongside their close dinosaurian relatives. After the mass extinction, modern birds (members of the avian crown group) explosively diversified, culminating in more than 10,000 species distributed worldwide today.

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“…Whereas support for this timing comes from evidence of increased diversification rates in pygostylian theropods in the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Benson & Choiniere, 2013), combined with sustained decreases in body size (Benson et al, 2014a) and broader occupation of ecological roles (Mitchell & Makovicky, 2014), these diversification studies cannot account for heterogeneous sampling of the fossil record. Additionally, pterosaurs began to occupy increasingly terrestrial environments in the Cretaceous Andres et al, 2014), which might represent an ecological reorganisation of flight-capable faunas at this time.…”

Section: (3) Biotic Interactions and Evidence For A Faunal Turnover (mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic and environmental dynamics through theLateJurassic–EarlyCretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

et al. 2016

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The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary 'event', which hints at a 'cascade model' of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shelf-dwelling faunas, corresponding to a significant eustatic sea-level fall in the latest Jurassic. More mobile and ecologically plastic marine groups, such as ichthyosaurs, survived the boundary relatively unscathed. High rates of extinction and turnover in other macropredaceous marine groups, including plesiosaurs, are accompanied by the origin of most major lineages of extant sharks. Groups which occupied both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including crocodylomorphs, document a selective extinction in shallow marine forms, whereas turtles appear to have diversified. These patterns suggest that different extinction selectivity and ecological processes were operating between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which were ultimately important in determining the fates of many key groups, as well as the origins of many major extant lineages. We identify a series of potential abiotic candidates for driving these patterns, including multiple bolide impacts, several episodes of flood basalt eruptions, dramatic climate change, and major disruptions to oceanic systems. The J/K t...

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Rates of dinosaur limb evolution provide evidence for exceptional radiation in Mesozoic birds

Cited by 81 publications

References 47 publications

Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds

Rates of morphological evolution are heterogeneous in Early Cretaceous birds

The Origin and Diversification of Birds

Biotic and environmental dynamics through theLateJurassic–EarlyCretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

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