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Tejada JV, Antoine PO, Münch P, Billet G, Hautier L, Delsuc F, Condamine FL. Bayesian Total-Evidence Dating Revisits Sloth Phylogeny and Biogeography: A Cautionary Tale on Morphological Clock Analyses. Syst Biol 2024; 73:125-139. [PMID: 38041854 PMCID: PMC11129595 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syad069] [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: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Combining morphological and molecular characters through Bayesian total-evidence dating allows inferring the phylogenetic and timescale framework of both extant and fossil taxa, while accounting for the stochasticity and incompleteness of the fossil record. Such an integrative approach is particularly needed when dealing with clades such as sloths (Mammalia: Folivora), for which developmental and biomechanical studies have shown high levels of morphological convergence whereas molecular data can only account for a limited percentage of their total species richness. Here, we propose an alternative hypothesis of sloth evolution that emphasizes the pervasiveness of morphological convergence and the importance of considering the fossil record and an adequate taxon sampling in both phylogenetic and biogeographic inferences. Regardless of different clock models and morphological datasets, the extant sloth Bradypus is consistently recovered as a megatherioid, and Choloepus as a mylodontoid, in agreement with molecular-only analyses. The recently extinct Caribbean sloths (Megalocnoidea) are found to be a monophyletic sister-clade of Megatherioidea, in contrast to previous phylogenetic hypotheses. Our results contradict previous morphological analyses and further support the polyphyly of "Megalonychidae," whose members were found in five different clades. Regardless of taxon sampling and clock models, the Caribbean colonization of sloths is compatible with the exhumation of islands along Aves Ridge and its geological time frame. Overall, our total-evidence analysis illustrates the difficulty of positioning highly incomplete fossils, although a robust phylogenetic framework was recovered by an a posteriori removal of taxa with high percentages of missing characters. Elimination of these taxa improved topological resolution by reducing polytomies and increasing node support. However, it introduced a systematic and geographic bias because most of these incomplete specimens are from northern South America. This is evident in biogeographic reconstructions, which suggest Patagonia as the area of origin of many clades when taxa are underrepresented, but Amazonia and/or Central and Southern Andes when all taxa are included. More generally, our analyses demonstrate the instability of topology and divergence time estimates when using different morphological datasets and clock models and thus caution against making macroevolutionary inferences when node support is weak or when uncertainties in the fossil record are not considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia V Tejada
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Pierre-Olivier Antoine
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Philippe Münch
- Géosciences Montpellier, UMR 5243, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Université des Antilles, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
| | - Guillaume Billet
- Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie—Paris, CR2P—UMR 7207, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 8 rue Buffon 75005, Paris
| | - Lionel Hautier
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Frédéric Delsuc
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Fabien L Condamine
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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Oswald JA, Smith BT, Allen JM, Guralnick RP, Steadman DW, LeFebvre MJ. Changes in parrot diversity after human arrival to the Caribbean. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2301128120. [PMID: 37748079 PMCID: PMC10576146 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301128120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans did not arrive on most of the world's islands until relatively recently, making islands favorable places for disentangling the timing and magnitude of natural and anthropogenic impacts on species diversity and distributions. Here, we focus on Amazona parrots in the Caribbean, which have close relationships with humans (e.g., as pets as well as sources of meat and colorful feathers). Caribbean parrots also have substantial fossil and archaeological records that span the Holocene. We leverage this exemplary record to showcase how combining ancient and modern DNA, along with radiometric dating, can shed light on diversification and extinction dynamics and answer long-standing questions about the magnitude of human impacts in the region. Our results reveal a striking loss of parrot diversity, much of which took place during human occupation of the islands. The most widespread species, the Cuban Parrot, exhibits interisland divergences throughout the Pleistocene. Within this radiation, we identified an extinct, genetically distinct lineage that survived on the Turks and Caicos until Indigenous human settlement of the islands. We also found that the narrowly distributed Hispaniolan Parrot had a natural range that once included The Bahamas; it thus became "endemic" to Hispaniola during the late Holocene. The Hispaniolan Parrot also likely was introduced by Indigenous people to Grand Turk and Montserrat, two islands where it is now also extirpated. Our research demonstrates that genetic information spanning paleontological, archaeological, and modern contexts is essential to understand the role of humans in altering the diversity and distribution of biota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A. Oswald
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory, Ashland, OR97520
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV89557
| | - Brian Tilston Smith
- Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY10024
| | - Julie M. Allen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA24061
| | - Robert P. Guralnick
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL32611
| | - David W. Steadman
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL32611
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3
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Gaudin TJ, Scaife T. Cranial osteology of a juvenile specimen of Acratocnus ye (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Folivora) and its ontogenetic and phylogenetic implications. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2023; 306:607-637. [PMID: 36054593 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25062] [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: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The present study comprises a description of the skull and jaw anatomy of a juvenile specimen of the Antillean sloth Acratocnus ye, from the Holocene of Haiti. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided of the skull bones and their sutural connections, which normally fuse in adults. Descriptions are also provided for the mandible and ear ossicles, as well as endocranial surfaces and sinuses exposed by breaks. The anatomy of our juvenile A. ye is compared to that of adult A. ye to assess ontogenetic changes in the skull. Several of these ontogenetic features are significant new observations that impact the relationships within Xenarthra as a whole, or between Xenarthrans and other placental mammals, most notably, the presence of a separate mesethmoid element, the presence of alveoli for a lower deciduous canine and anterior incisor, and the presence of separate rostral and caudal entotympanic elements. A full list of such changes are provided. In addition, the specimen provides information on phylogenetically relevant characters, including features unique to the genus Acratocnus, and features of the clade Choloepodini, including Acratocnus, the smaller extinct Antillean sloth Neocnus, and the extant two-toed sloth Choloepus. Contrary to previous studies, Acratocnus shares as many features with Choloepus as it does with its fellow Antillean form Neocnus in the present study, which is consistent with current morphology-based phylogenetic hypotheses regarding the relationships within Choloepodini. The current study highlights the need for further anatomical and phylogenetic investigations of Antillean sloths (Megalocnidae/Megalonychidae), and juvenile sloths in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy J Gaudin
- Department of Biology, Geology & Environmental Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
| | - Thomas Scaife
- Department of Geosciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
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4
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Borges C, Bertassoni A, Liévano‐Latorre LF, Dória TAF, Santos‐Silva R, Miranda F, Barreto E. Safeguarding sloths and anteaters in the future: Priority areas for conservation under climate change. Biotropica 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.13185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christielly Borges
- Laboratório de Ecologia Teórica e Síntese Universidade Federal de Goiás Goiânia Brazil
| | - Alessandra Bertassoni
- Theory, Metapopulation, and Landscape Ecology Lab Universidade Federal de Goiás Goiânia Brazil
| | | | | | - Rejane Santos‐Silva
- Laboratório de Biogeografia da Conservação Universidade Federal de Goiás Goiânia Brazil
| | | | - Elisa Barreto
- Laboratório de Ecologia Teórica e Síntese Universidade Federal de Goiás Goiânia Brazil
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Birmensdorf Switzerland
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5
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Mohammed RS, Turner G, Fowler K, Pateman M, Nieves-Colón MA, Fanovich L, Cooke SB, Dávalos LM, Fitzpatrick SM, Giovas CM, Stokowski M, Wrean AA, Kemp M, LeFebvre MJ, Mychajliw AM. Colonial legacies influence biodiversity lessons: how past trade routes and power dynamics shape present-day scientific research and professional opportunities for Caribbean scientists. Am Nat 2022; 200:140-155. [DOI: 10.1086/720154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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7
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Gavazzi LM, Kjosness KM, Reno PL. Ossification pattern of the unusual pisiform in two-toed (Choloepus) and three-toed sloths (Bradypus). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2021; 305:1804-1819. [PMID: 34779120 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24832] [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: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Two-toed (Choloepus sp.) and three-toed (Bradypus sp.) sloths possess short, rounded pisiforms that are rare among mammals and differ from other members of Xenarthra like the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) which retain elongated, rod-like pisiforms in common with most mammals. Using photographs, radiographs, and μCT, we assessed ossification patterns in the pisiform and the paralogous tarsal, the calcaneus, for two-toed sloths, three-toed sloths, and giant anteaters to determine the process by which pisiform reduction occurs in sloths and compare it to other previously studied examples of pisiform reduction in humans and orangutans. Both extant sloth genera achieve pisiform reduction through the loss of a secondary ossification center and the likely disruption of the associated growth plate based on an unusually porous subchondral surface. This represents a third unique mechanism of pisiform reduction among mammals, along with primary ossification center loss in humans and retention of two ossification centers with likely reduced growth periods in orangutans. Given the remarkable similarities between two-toed and three-toed sloth pisiform ossification patterns and the presence of pisiform reduction in fossil sloths, extant sloth pisiform morphology does not appear to represent a recent convergent adaptation to suspensory locomotion, but instead is likely to be an ancestral trait of Folivora that emerged early in the radiation of extant and fossil sloths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lia M Gavazzi
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA.,Musculoskeletal Research Group, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
| | - Kelsey M Kjosness
- Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Philip L Reno
- Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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8
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Cupello M, Ribeiro-Costa CS, Vaz-De-Mello FZ. The evolution of Bolbites onitoides (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Phanaeini): its phylogenetic significance, geographical polychromatism and the subspecies problem. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The distribution of the iridescent dung beetle Bolbites onitoides can be divided, based on dorsal colouration, into a blue western-half and a red eastern-half. This has raised the question, in 1959, of whether the two colour variants could represent distinct subspecies. Having examined ~1200 specimens and evaluated the proposal under both an ontological and an operational subspecies concept, we conclude that B. onitoides should continue to be treated as a single monotypic species because: (1) two kinds of colour intermediates were found living among populations of the two main variants; (2) the distribution of the variants overlaps; (3) no other characters were seen to vary consistently in accordance with the colour variants; (4) the overall geographical pattern can be explained by phenomena other than (incipient) speciation, such as phenotypic plasticity and distinct selective regimes; and (5) colour has been extensively shown not to be a reliable indicator of speciation processes among dung beetles. By comparing our findings with other cases of polychromatism among scarabaeines, we discuss publications proposing subspecies taxa relying uniquely upon colour variants. We contend that, due to the often continuous, populational, polytopic and, several times, clinal nature of the intraspecific geographical variation, subspecies classification schemes should not be established simply to classify variation across a species range without a commitment to the reality as evolutionary entities of the taxa being proposed. The alternative stance championed by many contemporary authors to give trinomina to conspecific (meta)population lineages, in turn, may eventually prove to be adequate, but we express some of our concerns as to the feasibility of this practice. Whether these intraspecific taxa should be ranked in a Linnaean hierarchy – e.g. as subspecies – is equally an open question. We also elaborate on an evolutionary scenario where the role of the iridescence in sexual selection, as hypothesized in a previous work, may be an exaptation, not an adaptation, among the horned Phanaeina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Cupello
- Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Sistemática e Bioecologia de Coleoptera. Centro Politécnico, Jardim das Américas, CEP 81.531-980, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
- Fellow of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
| | - Cibele S Ribeiro-Costa
- Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Sistemática e Bioecologia de Coleoptera. Centro Politécnico, Jardim das Américas, CEP 81.531-980, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
- Fellow of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
| | - Fernando Z Vaz-De-Mello
- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia. Av. Fernando Correa da Costa, 2367, Boa Esperança, 78.060-900, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
- Fellow of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
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9
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Cascardo P, Pucu E, Leles D. REVIEW OF PARASITES FOUND IN EXTINCT ANIMALS: WHAT CAN BE REVEALED. J Parasitol 2021; 107:275-283. [PMID: 33844838 DOI: 10.1645/20-30] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Parasitism is inherent to life and observed in all species. Extinct animals have been studied to understand what they looked like, where and how they lived, what they fed on, and the reasons they became extinct. Paleoparasitology helps to clarify these questions based on the study of the parasites and microorganisms that infected those animals, using as a source material coprolites, fossils in rock, tissue, bone, mummy, and amber, analyses of ancient DNA, immunodiagnosis, and microscopy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Cascardo
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Parasitos, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 21041-210, Brazil
| | - Elisa Pucu
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Parasitos, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 21041-210, Brazil
| | - Daniela Leles
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Parasitos, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 21041-210, Brazil
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10
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Oswald JA, Terrill RS, Stucky BJ, LeFebvre MJ, Steadman DW, Guralnick RP, Allen JM. Ancient DNA from the extinct Haitian cave-rail ( Nesotrochis steganinos) suggests a biogeographic connection between the Caribbean and Old World. Biol Lett 2021; 17:20200760. [PMID: 33726563 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Worldwide decline in biodiversity during the Holocene has impeded a comprehensive understanding of pre-human biodiversity and biogeography. This is especially true on islands, because many recently extinct island taxa were morphologically unique, complicating assessment of their evolutionary relationships using morphology alone. The Caribbean remains an avian hotspot but was more diverse before human arrival in the Holocene. Among the recently extinct lineages is the enigmatic genus Nesotrochis, comprising three flightless species. Based on morphology, Nesotrochis has been considered an aberrant rail (Rallidae) or related to flufftails (Sarothruridae). We recovered a nearly complete mitochondrial genome of Nesotrochis steganinos from fossils, discovering that it is not a rallid but instead is sister to Sarothruridae, volant birds now restricted to Africa and New Guinea, and the recently extinct, flightless Aptornithidae of New Zealand. This result suggests a widespread or highly dispersive most recent common ancestor of the group. Prior to human settlement, the Caribbean avifauna had a far more cosmopolitan origin than is evident from extant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Oswald
- Biology Department, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA.,Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Ryan S Terrill
- Moore Lab of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA
| | - Brian J Stucky
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Michelle J LeFebvre
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - David W Steadman
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Robert P Guralnick
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Julie M Allen
- Biology Department, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA.,Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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11
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Presslee S, Penkman K, Fischer R, Richards-Slidel E, Southon J, Hospitaleche CA, Collins M, MacPhee R. Assessment of different screening methods for selecting palaeontological bone samples for peptide sequencing. J Proteomics 2020; 230:103986. [PMID: 32941991 DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2020.103986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Ancient proteomics is being applied to samples dating further and further back in time, with many palaeontological specimens providing protein sequence data for phylogenetic analysis as well as protein degradation studies. However, fossils are a precious material and proteomic analysis is destructive and costly. In this paper we consider three different techniques (ATR-FTIR, MALDI-ToF MS and chiral AA analysis) to screen fossil material for potential protein preservation, aiming to maximise the proteomic information recovered and saving costly time consuming analyses which may produce low quality results. It was found that splitting factor and C/P indices from ATR-FTIR were not a reliable indicator of protein survival as they are confounded by secondary mineralisation of the fossil material. Both MALDI-ToF MS and chiral AA analysis results were able to successfully identify samples with surviving proteins, and it is suggested that one or both of these analyses be used for screening palaeontological specimens. SIGNIFICANCE: This study has shown both chiral amino acid analysis and MALDI-ToF MS are reliable screening methods for predicting protein survival in fossils. Both these methods are quick, cheap, minimally destructive (1 mg and 15 mg respectively) and can provide crucial additional information about the endogeneity of the surviving proteins. It is hoped that the use of these screening methods will encourage the examination of a wide range of palaeontological specimens for potential proteomic analysis. This in turn will give us a better understanding of protein survival far back in time and under different environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Presslee
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK; BioArCh, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK.
| | - Kirsty Penkman
- BioArCh, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
| | - Roman Fischer
- Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Eden Richards-Slidel
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK; Section for Evolutionary Genomics, The Globe Institute, Faculty of Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - John Southon
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, USA
| | | | - Matthew Collins
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, The Globe Institute, Faculty of Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ross MacPhee
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
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12
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Andermann T, Faurby S, Turvey ST, Antonelli A, Silvestro D. The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/36/eabb2313. [PMID: 32917612 PMCID: PMC7473673 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb2313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
To understand the current biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to determine how humans have affected biodiversity in the past. However, the extent of human involvement in species extinctions from the Late Pleistocene onward remains contentious. Here, we apply Bayesian models to the fossil record to estimate how mammalian extinction rates have changed over the past 126,000 years, inferring specific times of rate increases. We specifically test the hypothesis of human-caused extinctions by using posterior predictive methods. We find that human population size is able to predict past extinctions with 96% accuracy. Predictors based on past climate, in contrast, perform no better than expected by chance, suggesting that climate had a negligible impact on global mammal extinctions. Based on current trends, we predict for the near future a rate escalation of unprecedented magnitude. Our results provide a comprehensive assessment of the human impact on past and predicted future extinctions of mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Andermann
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Søren Faurby
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Samuel T Turvey
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK
| | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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13
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Boscaini A, Iurino DA, Mamani Quispe B, Andrade Flores R, Sardella R, Pujos F, Gaudin TJ. Cranial Anatomy and Paleoneurology of the Extinct Sloth Catonyx tarijensis (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) From the Late Pleistocene of Oruro, Southwestern Bolivia. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
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14
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Oswald JA, Allen JM, LeFebvre MJ, Stucky BJ, Folk RA, Albury NA, Morgan GS, Guralnick RP, Steadman DW. Ancient DNA and high-resolution chronometry reveal a long-term human role in the historical diversity and biogeography of the Bahamian hutia. Sci Rep 2020; 10:1373. [PMID: 31992804 PMCID: PMC6987171 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58224-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Quaternary paleontological and archaeological evidence often is crucial for uncovering the historical mechanisms shaping modern diversity and distributions. We take an interdisciplinary approach using multiple lines of evidence to understand how past human activity has shaped long-term animal diversity in an island system. Islands afford unique opportunities for such studies given their robust fossil and archaeological records. Herein, we examine the only non-volant terrestrial mammal endemic to the Bahamian Archipelago, the hutia Geocapromys ingrahami. This capromyine rodent once inhabited many islands but is now restricted to several small cays. Radiocarbon dated fossils indicate that hutias were present on the Great Bahama Bank islands before humans arrived at AD ~800-1000; all dates from other islands post-date human arrival. Using ancient DNA from a subset of these fossils, along with modern representatives of Bahamian hutia and related taxa, we develop a fossil-calibrated phylogeny. We found little genetic divergence among individuals from within either the northern or southern Bahamas but discovered a relatively deep North-South divergence (~750 ka). This result, combined with radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence, reveals a pre-human biogeographic divergence, and an unexpected human role in shaping Bahamian hutia diversity and biogeography across islands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Oswald
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
- Biology Department, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA.
| | - Julie M Allen
- Biology Department, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Michelle J LeFebvre
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Brian J Stucky
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Ryan A Folk
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA
| | - Nancy A Albury
- National Museum of The Bahamas, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
| | - Gary S Morgan
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM, 87104, USA
| | - Robert P Guralnick
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - David W Steadman
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
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15
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Oswald JA, Allen JM, Witt KE, Folk RA, Albury NA, Steadman DW, Guralnick RP. Ancient DNA from a 2,500-year-old Caribbean fossil places an extinct bird (Caracara creightoni) in a phylogenetic context. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2019; 140:106576. [PMID: 31381968 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2019] [Revised: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Since the late Pleistocene humans have caused the extinction of species across our planet. Placing these extinct species in the tree of life with genetic data is essential to understanding the ecological and evolutionary implications of these losses. While ancient DNA (aDNA) techniques have advanced rapidly in recent decades, aDNA from tropical species, especially birds, has been historically difficult to obtain, leaving a gap in our knowledge of the extinction processes that have influenced current distributions and biodiversity. Here we report the recovery of a nearly complete mitochondrial genome from a 2,500 year old (late Holocene) bone of an extinct species of bird, Caracara creightoni, recovered from the anoxic saltwater environment of a blue hole in the Bahamas. Our results suggest that this extinct species is sister (1.6% sequence divergence) to a clade containing the extant C. cheriway and C. plancus. Caracara creightoni shared a common ancestor with these extant species during the Pleistocene (1.2-0.4 MYA) and presumably survived on Cuba when the Bahamas was mostly underwater during Quaternary interglacial intervals (periods of high sea levels). Tropical blue holes have been collecting animals for thousands of years and will continue to improve our understanding of faunal extinctions and distributions. In particular, new aDNA techniques combined with radiocarbon dating from Holocene Bahamian fossils will allow us to place other extinct (species-level loss) and extirpated (population-level loss) vertebrate taxa in improved phylogenetic, evolutionary, biogeographic, and temporal contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Oswald
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, United States; University of Nevada, Reno, United States.
| | | | | | - Ryan A Folk
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, United States; Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, United States
| | - Nancy A Albury
- National Museum of The Bahamas, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
| | - David W Steadman
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, United States
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16
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Presslee S, Slater GJ, Pujos F, Forasiepi AM, Fischer R, Molloy K, Mackie M, Olsen JV, Kramarz A, Taglioretti M, Scaglia F, Lezcano M, Lanata JL, Southon J, Feranec R, Bloch J, Hajduk A, Martin FM, Salas Gismondi R, Reguero M, de Muizon C, Greenwood A, Chait BT, Penkman K, Collins M, MacPhee RDE. Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1121-1130. [PMID: 31171860 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2018] [Accepted: 04/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora, a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the western hemisphere during the Cenozoic, including both continents and the West Indies. Ancient DNA evidence has played only a minor role in folivoran systematics, as most sloths lived in places not conducive to genomic preservation. Here we utilize collagen sequence information, both separately and in combination with published mitochondrial DNA evidence, to assess the relationships of tree sloths and their extinct relatives. Results from phylogenetic analysis of these datasets differ substantially from morphology-based concepts: Choloepus groups with Mylodontidae, not Megalonychidae; Bradypus and Megalonyx pair together as megatherioids, while monophyletic Antillean sloths may be sister to all other folivorans. Divergence estimates are consistent with fossil evidence for mid-Cenozoic presence of sloths in the West Indies and an early Miocene radiation in South America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Presslee
- Department of Archaeology and BioArCh, University of York, Heslington, UK.,Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.,Paleoproteomics Group, Natural History Museum of Denmark and University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Graham J Slater
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - François Pujos
- Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, CCT-CONICET-Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Analía M Forasiepi
- Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, CCT-CONICET-Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Roman Fischer
- Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kelly Molloy
- Chait Laboratory and National Resource for the Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Biological Macromolecules, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Meaghan Mackie
- Paleoproteomics Group, Natural History Museum of Denmark and University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jesper V Olsen
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Alejandro Kramarz
- Sección Paleovertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'Bernardino Rivadavia', Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Matías Taglioretti
- Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales 'Lorenzo Scaglia', Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Fernando Scaglia
- Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales 'Lorenzo Scaglia', Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Maximiliano Lezcano
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio, CONICET and Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Bariloche, Argentina
| | - José Luis Lanata
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio, CONICET and Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Bariloche, Argentina
| | - John Southon
- Keck-CCAMS Group, Earth System Science Department, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | | | - Jonathan Bloch
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Adam Hajduk
- Museo de la Patagonia 'F. P. Moreno', Bariloche, Argentina
| | - Fabiana M Martin
- Centro de Estudios del Hombre Austral, Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
| | - Rodolfo Salas Gismondi
- BioGeoCiencias Lab, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía/CIDIS, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | - Marcelo Reguero
- CONICET and División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Christian de Muizon
- Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Alex Greenwood
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Brian T Chait
- Chait Laboratory and National Resource for the Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Biological Macromolecules, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kirsty Penkman
- Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, UK
| | - Matthew Collins
- Paleoproteomics Group, Natural History Museum of Denmark and University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ross D E MacPhee
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.
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17
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Delsuc F, Kuch M, Gibb GC, Karpinski E, Hackenberger D, Szpak P, Martínez JG, Mead JI, McDonald HG, MacPhee RDE, Billet G, Hautier L, Poinar HN. Ancient Mitogenomes Reveal the Evolutionary History and Biogeography of Sloths. Curr Biol 2019; 29:2031-2042.e6. [PMID: 31178321 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Revised: 04/18/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Living sloths represent two distinct lineages of small-sized mammals that independently evolved arboreality from terrestrial ancestors. The six extant species are the survivors of an evolutionary radiation marked by the extinction of large terrestrial forms at the end of the Quaternary. Until now, sloth evolutionary history has mainly been reconstructed from phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters. Here, we used ancient DNA methods to successfully sequence 10 extinct sloth mitogenomes encompassing all major lineages. This includes the iconic continental ground sloths Megatherium, Megalonyx, Mylodon, and Nothrotheriops and the smaller endemic Caribbean sloths Parocnus and Acratocnus. Phylogenetic analyses identify eight distinct lineages grouped in three well-supported clades, whose interrelationships are markedly incongruent with the currently accepted morphological topology. We show that recently extinct Caribbean sloths have a single origin but comprise two highly divergent lineages that are not directly related to living two-fingered sloths, which instead group with Mylodon. Moreover, living three-fingered sloths do not represent the sister group to all other sloths but are nested within a clade of extinct ground sloths including Megatherium, Megalonyx, and Nothrotheriops. Molecular dating also reveals that the eight newly recognized sloth families all originated between 36 and 28 million years ago (mya). The early divergence of recently extinct Caribbean sloths around 35 mya is consistent with the debated GAARlandia hypothesis postulating the existence at that time of a biogeographic connection between northern South America and the Greater Antilles. This new molecular phylogeny has major implications for reinterpreting sloth morphological evolution, biogeography, and diversification history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Delsuc
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
| | - Melanie Kuch
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Gillian C Gibb
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Wildlife and Ecology Group, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Centennial Drive, Hokowhitu, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand
| | - Emil Karpinski
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada; Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Dirk Hackenberger
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Paul Szpak
- Department of Anthropology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - Jorge G Martínez
- Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales, CONICET-Instituto de Arqueología y Museo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Martín 1545, CP4000 San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
| | - Jim I Mead
- The Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, Hot Springs, SD 57747, USA; East Tennessee State University Natural History Museum, 1212 Suncrest Drive, Johnson City, TN 37615, USA
| | - H Gregory McDonald
- Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South #500, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, USA
| | - Ross D E MacPhee
- Division of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West & 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Guillaume Billet
- Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris (CR2P), UMR CNRS 7207, Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Lionel Hautier
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Mammal Section, Life Sciences, Vertebrate Division, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Hendrik N Poinar
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada.
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18
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Morgan GS, Macphee RD, Woods R, Turvey ST. Late Quaternary Fossil Mammals from the Cayman Islands, West Indies. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2019. [DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.428.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gary S. Morgan
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | - Ross D.E. Macphee
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York
| | - Roseina Woods
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London
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19
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Larmon JT, McDonald HG, Ambrose S, DeSantis LRG, Lucero LJ. A year in the life of a giant ground sloth during the Last Glacial Maximum in Belize. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaau1200. [PMID: 30820449 PMCID: PMC6392778 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau1200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Stable isotope analysis of the first fossilized Eremotherium laurillardi remains from Belize offers valuable insights into the conditions within which this individual lived and its ability to adapt to the increasing aridity of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy was used to identify chemical alteration of the tooth during fossilization. Results demonstrate that the inner orthodentin resists diagenesis, yielding potentially unaltered values. Using an intensive "vacuum milling" technique, the inner orthodentin produced an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) date of 26,975 ± 120 calibrated years before the present. The stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of this layer shows that the tooth recorded two wet seasons separated by one longer dry season and that this sloth was able to adapt its diet to the marked seasonality of the LGM. This study offers new insights into obtaining reliable isotope data from fossilized remains and suggests that this individual adapted to climate shifts, contributing to the conversation surrounding megafauna extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean T. Larmon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | | | - Stanley Ambrose
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | | | - Lisa J. Lucero
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
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20
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Morgan GS, Albury NA, Rímoli R, Lehman P, Rosenberger AL, Cooke SB. The Cuban Crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) from Late Quaternary Underwater Cave Deposits in the Dominican Republic. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2018. [DOI: 10.1206/3916.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gary S. Morgan
- Vertebrate Paleontology, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | - Nancy A. Albury
- National Museum of the Bahamas/Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas
| | - Renato Rímoli
- Department of Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Ciudad Universitaria, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
| | - Phillip Lehman
- Dominican Republic Speleological Society, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
| | - Alfred L. Rosenberger
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College, and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York, New York; and New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York
| | - Siobhán B. Cooke
- Department of Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
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21
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Hedges SB, Cohen WB, Timyan J, Yang Z. Haiti's biodiversity threatened by nearly complete loss of primary forest. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:11850-11855. [PMID: 30373820 PMCID: PMC6243243 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1809753115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Tropical forests hold most of Earth's biodiversity. Their continued loss through deforestation and agriculture is the main threat to species globally, more than disease, invasive species, and climate change. However, not all tropical forests have the same ability to sustain biodiversity. Those that have been disturbed by humans, including forests previously cleared and regrown (secondary growth), have lower levels of species richness compared with undisturbed (primary) forests. The difference is even greater considering extinctions that will later emanate from the disturbance (extinction debt). Here, we find that Haiti has less than 1% of its original primary forest and is therefore among the most deforested countries. Primary forest has declined over three decades inside national parks, and 42 of the 50 highest and largest mountains have lost all primary forest. Our surveys of vertebrate diversity (especially amphibians and reptiles) on mountaintops indicates that endemic species have been lost along with the loss of forest. At the current rate, Haiti will lose essentially all of its primary forest during the next two decades and is already undergoing a mass extinction of its biodiversity because of deforestation. These findings point to the need, in general, for better reporting of forest cover data of relevance to biodiversity, instead of "total forest" as defined by the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization. Expanded detection and monitoring of primary forest globally will improve the efficiency of conservation measures, inside and outside of protected areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Blair Hedges
- Center for Biodiversity, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122;
- Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122
| | - Warren B Cohen
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, US Forest Service, Corvallis, OR 97331
| | | | - Zhiqiang Yang
- Department of Forest Ecosystem and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
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22
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Bustos D, Jakeway J, Urban TM, Holliday VT, Fenerty B, Raichlen DA, Budka M, Reynolds SC, Allen BD, Love DW, Santucci VL, Odess D, Willey P, McDonald HG, Bennett MR. Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt? Human-sloth interactions in North America. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaar7621. [PMID: 29707640 PMCID: PMC5916513 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar7621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Predator-prey interactions revealed by vertebrate trace fossils are extremely rare. We present footprint evidence from White Sands National Monument in New Mexico for the association of sloth and human trackways. Geologically, the sloth and human trackways were made contemporaneously, and the sloth trackways show evidence of evasion and defensive behavior when associated with human tracks. Behavioral inferences from these trackways indicate prey selection and suggest that humans were harassing, stalking, and/or hunting the now-extinct giant ground sloth in the terminal Pleistocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bustos
- National Park Service, White Sands National Monument, P.O. Box 1086, Holloman Air Force Base, NM 88330, USA
| | - Jackson Jakeway
- National Park Service, White Sands National Monument, P.O. Box 1086, Holloman Air Force Base, NM 88330, USA
| | - Tommy M. Urban
- Department of Classics, Tree-ring Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853–3201, USA
| | - Vance T. Holliday
- School of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, 1009 E. South Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E. Fourth Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Brendan Fenerty
- Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E. Fourth Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - David A. Raichlen
- School of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, 1009 E. South Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Marcin Budka
- Institute for Studies in Landscapes and Human Evolution, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
| | - Sally C. Reynolds
- Institute for Studies in Landscapes and Human Evolution, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
| | - Bruce D. Allen
- New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
| | - David W. Love
- New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
| | - Vincent L. Santucci
- National Park Service, Geologic Resources Division, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240, USA
| | - Daniel Odess
- National Park Service, Cultural Resources Directorate, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240, USA
| | - Patrick Willey
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 95929–0400, USA
| | - H. Gregory McDonald
- Bureau of Land Management, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, UT 84101–1345, USA
| | - Matthew R. Bennett
- Institute for Studies in Landscapes and Human Evolution, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
- Corresponding author.
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23
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Cooke SB, Dávalos LM, Mychajliw AM, Turvey ST, Upham NS. Anthropogenic Extinction Dominates Holocene Declines of West Indian Mammals. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2017. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The extensive postglacial mammal losses in the West Indies provide an opportunity to evaluate extinction dynamics, but limited data have hindered our ability to test hypotheses. Here, we analyze the tempo and dynamics of extinction using a novel data set of faunal last-appearance dates and human first-appearance dates, demonstrating widespread overlap between humans and now-extinct native mammals. Humans arrived in four waves (Lithic, Archaic, Ceramic, and European), each associated with increased environmental impact. Large-bodied mammals and several bats were extinct by the Archaic, following protracted extinction dynamics perhaps reflecting habitat loss. Most small-bodied rodents and lipotyphlan insectivores survived the Ceramic, but extensive landscape transformation and the introduction of invasive mammals following European colonization caused further extinctions, leaving a threatened remnant fauna. Both large- and small-bodied nonvolant mammals disappeared, reflecting complex relationships between body size, ecology, and anthropogenic change. Extinct bats were generally larger species, paralleling declines from natural catastrophes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siobhán B. Cooke
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
| | - Liliana M. Dávalos
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794
- Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794
| | - Alexis M. Mychajliw
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California 90036
| | - Samuel T. Turvey
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London NW1 4RY, United Kingdom
| | - Nathan S. Upham
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
- Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois 60605
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24
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Leppard TP. The Biophysical Effects of Neolithic Island Colonization: General Dynamics and Sociocultural Implications. HUMAN ECOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL 2017; 45:555-568. [PMID: 29170588 PMCID: PMC5680384 DOI: 10.1007/s10745-017-9939-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Does anthropogenic environmental change constrain long-term sociopolitical outcomes? It is clear that human colonization of islands radically alters their biological and physical systems. Despite considerable contextual variability in local specificities of this alteration, I argue that these processes are to some extent regular, predictable, and have socio-political implications. Reviewing the data for post-colonization ecodynamics, I show that Neolithic colonization of previously insulated habitats drives biotic homogenization. I argue that we should expect such homogenization to promote regular types of change in biophysical systems, types of change that can be described in sum as environmentally convergent. Such convergence should have significant implications for human social organization over the long term, and general dynamics of this sort are relevant in the context of understanding remarkably similar social evolutionary trajectories towards wealth-inequality not only islands, but also more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P. Leppard
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER UK
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25
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Baños-Villalba A, Blanco G, Díaz-Luque JA, Dénes FV, Hiraldo F, Tella JL. Seed dispersal by macaws shapes the landscape of an Amazonian ecosystem. Sci Rep 2017; 7:7373. [PMID: 28785083 PMCID: PMC5547140 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07697-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 07/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Seed dispersal is one of the most studied plant-animal mutualisms. It has been proposed that the dispersal of many large-seeded plants from Neotropical forests was primarily conducted by extinct megafauna, and currently by livestock. Parrots can transport large fruits using their beaks, but have been overlooked as seed dispersers. We demonstrate that three macaws (Ara ararauna, A. glaucogularis and A. severus) are the main dispersers of the large-seeded motacú palm Attalea princeps, which is the biomass-dominant tree in the Bolivian Amazonian savannas. Macaws dispersed fruits at high rates (75-100% of fruits) to distant (up to 1200 m) perching trees, where they consumed the pulp and discarded entire seeds, contributing to forest regeneration and connectivity between distant forests islands. The spatial distribution of immature palms was positively associated to the proximity to macaws' perching trees and negatively to the proximity to cattle paths. The disperser role of livestock, presumably a substitute for extinct megafauna, had little effect due to soil compaction, trampling and herbivory. Our results underscore the importance of macaws as legitimate, primary dispersers of large-seeded plants at long distances and, specifically, their key role in shaping the landscape structure and functioning of this Amazonian biome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Baños-Villalba
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, University Pablo de Olavide Ctra, Utrera km 1, E- 41013, Sevilla, Spain.
| | - Guillermo Blanco
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain
| | - José A Díaz-Luque
- Bolivian Parrots Research and Conservation Foundation (CLB), Avda. Mariscal Sta. Cruz 5030, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
| | - Francisco V Dénes
- Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC. Américo Vespucio s/n, E-41092, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Fernando Hiraldo
- Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC. Américo Vespucio s/n, E-41092, Sevilla, Spain
| | - José L Tella
- Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC. Américo Vespucio s/n, E-41092, Sevilla, Spain
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The Postcranial Musculoskeletal System of Xenarthrans: Insights from over Two Centuries of Research and Future Directions. J MAMM EVOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-017-9408-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Cooke SB, Mychajliw AM, Southon J, MacPhee RDE. The extinction of Xenothrix mcgregori, Jamaica’s last monkey. J Mammal 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyw165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Soto-Centeno JA, Simmons NB, Steadman DW. The bat community of Haiti and evidence for its long-term persistence at high elevations. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0178066. [PMID: 28574990 PMCID: PMC5456054 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2017] [Accepted: 05/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Accurate accounts of both living and fossil mammal communities are critical for creating biodiversity inventories and understanding patterns of changing species diversity through time. We combined data from from14 new fossil localities with literature accounts and museum records to document the bat biodiversity of Haiti through time. We also report an assemblage of late-Holocene (1600–600 Cal BP) bat fossils from a montane cave (Trouing Jean Paul, ~1825m) in southern Haiti. The nearly 3000 chiropteran fossils from Trouing Jean Paul represent 15 species of bats including nine species endemic to the Caribbean islands. The fossil bat assemblage from Trouing Jean Paul is dominated by species still found on Hispaniola (15 of 15 species), much as with the fossil bird assemblage from the same locality (22 of 23 species). Thus, both groups of volant vertebrates demonstrate long-term resilience, at least at high elevations, to the past 16 centuries of human presence on the island.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Angel Soto-Centeno
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Nancy B. Simmons
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - David W. Steadman
- Department of Ornithology, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
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Ruiz-García M, Chacón D, Plese T, Schuler I, Shostell JM. Mitogenomics phylogenetic relationships of the current sloth's genera and species (Bradypodidae and Megalonychidae). Mitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal 2017; 29:281-299. [PMID: 28129732 DOI: 10.1080/24701394.2016.1275602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
We sequenced the complete mitogenome of 39 sloths (19 Bradypus variegatus, 4 B. tridactylus, 1 B. pygmaeus, 1 B. torquatus, 4 Choloepus didactylus, and 10 C. hoffmanni). A Bayesian tree (BI) indicated a temporal split between Bradypus and Choloepus around 31 million years ago (MYA, Oligocene) and the other major splits within each genera during the Miocene and Pliocene. A haplotype network (MJN) estimated a lower temporal split between the sloth genera (around 23.5 MYA). Both methods detected the ancestor of B. torquatus as the first to diverge within Bradypus (21 for BI and 19 MJN), followed by that of the ancestor of B. tridactylus. The split of B. pygmaeus from the common ancestor with B. variegatus was around 12 MYA (BI) or 4.3 MYA (MJN). The splits among the previous populations of B. variegatus began around 8 MYA (BI) or 3.6 MYA (MJN). The trans-Andean population was the first to diverge from the remaining cis-Andean populations of B. variegatus. The genetic differentiation of the trans-Andean B. variegatus population relative to the cis-Andean B. variegatus is similar to that found for different species of sloths. The mitogenomic analysis resolved the differentiation of C. hoffmanni from the C. didactylus individuals of the Guiana Shield. However, one C. didactylus from the Colombian Amazon specimen was inside the C. hoffmanni clade. This could be the first example of possible natural hybridization in the Amazon of both Choloepus taxa or the existence of un-differentiable phenotypes of these two species in some Amazonian areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Ruiz-García
- a Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias , Pontificia Universidad Javeriana , Bogotá , DC , Colombia
| | - Diego Chacón
- a Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias , Pontificia Universidad Javeriana , Bogotá , DC , Colombia
| | | | - Ingrid Schuler
- a Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias , Pontificia Universidad Javeriana , Bogotá , DC , Colombia
| | - Joseph Mark Shostell
- c Math, Science and Technology Department , University of Minnesota Crookston , Crookston , MN , USA
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Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 113:6388-96. [PMID: 27274046 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1525200113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 220] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global biosphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity-the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agriculture, the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial networks. Archaeological evidence documents millennia of anthropogenic transformations that have created novel ecosystems around the world. This record has implications for ecological and evolutionary research, conservation strategies, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, pointing to a significant need for broader cross-disciplinary engagement between archaeology and the biological and environmental sciences.
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31
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Kehlmaier C, Barlow A, Hastings AK, Vamberger M, Paijmans JLA, Steadman DW, Albury NA, Franz R, Hofreiter M, Fritz U. Tropical ancient DNA reveals relationships of the extinct Bahamian giant tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20162235. [PMID: 28077774 PMCID: PMC5247498 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2016] [Accepted: 11/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ancient DNA of extinct species from the Pleistocene and Holocene has provided valuable evolutionary insights. However, these are largely restricted to mammals and high latitudes because DNA preservation in warm climates is typically poor. In the tropics and subtropics, non-avian reptiles constitute a significant part of the fauna and little is known about the genetics of the many extinct reptiles from tropical islands. We have reconstructed the near-complete mitochondrial genome of an extinct giant tortoise from the Bahamas (Chelonoidis alburyorum) using an approximately 1 000-year-old humerus from a water-filled sinkhole (blue hole) on Great Abaco Island. Phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses place this extinct species as closely related to Galápagos (C. niger complex) and Chaco tortoises (C. chilensis), and provide evidence for repeated overseas dispersal in this tortoise group. The ancestors of extant Chelonoidis species arrived in South America from Africa only after the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and dispersed from there to the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. Our results also suggest that the anoxic, thermally buffered environment of blue holes may enhance DNA preservation, and thus are opening a window for better understanding evolution and population history of extinct tropical species, which would likely still exist without human impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Kehlmaier
- Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Dresden, A. B. Meyer Building, 01109 Dresden, Germany
| | - Axel Barlow
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, OT Golm, Germany
| | - Alexander K Hastings
- Virginia Museum of Natural History, 21 Starling Avenue, Martinsville, VA 24112, USA
| | - Melita Vamberger
- Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Dresden, A. B. Meyer Building, 01109 Dresden, Germany
| | - Johanna L A Paijmans
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, OT Golm, Germany
| | - David W Steadman
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Nancy A Albury
- National Museum of The Bahamas, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas
| | - Richard Franz
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, OT Golm, Germany
| | - Uwe Fritz
- Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Dresden, A. B. Meyer Building, 01109 Dresden, Germany
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32
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Harvey VL, Egerton VM, Chamberlain AT, Manning PL, Buckley M. Collagen Fingerprinting: A New Screening Technique for Radiocarbon Dating Ancient Bone. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0150650. [PMID: 26938469 PMCID: PMC4777535 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2015] [Accepted: 02/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Collagen is the dominant organic component of bone and is intimately locked within the hydroxyapatite structure of this ubiquitous biomaterial that dominates archaeological and palaeontological assemblages. Radiocarbon analysis of extracted collagen is one of the most common approaches to dating bone from late Pleistocene or Holocene deposits, but dating is relatively expensive compared to other biochemical techniques. Numerous analytical methods have previously been investigated for the purpose of screening out samples that are unlikely to yield reliable dates including histological analysis, UV-stimulated fluorescence and, most commonly, the measurement of percentage nitrogen (%N) and ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N). Here we propose the use of collagen fingerprinting (also known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS, when applied to species identification) as an alternative screening method for radiocarbon dating, due to its ability to provide information on collagen presence and quality, alongside species identification. The method was tested on a series of sub-fossil bone specimens from cave systems on Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands), chosen due to the observable range in diagenetic alteration, and in particular, the extent of mineralisation. Six 14C dates, of 18 initial attempts, were obtained from remains of extinct hutia, Capromys sp. (Rodentia; Capromyidae), recovered from five distinct caves on Cayman Brac, and ranging from 393 ± 25 to 1588 ± 26 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). All of the bone samples that yielded radiocarbon dates generated excellent collagen fingerprints, and conversely those that gave poor fingerprints also failed dating. Additionally, two successfully fingerprinted bone samples were screened out from a set of 81. Both subsequently generated 14C dates, demonstrating successful utilisation of ZooMS as an alternative screening mechanism to identify bone samples that are suitable for 14C analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia L. Harvey
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria M. Egerton
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
- Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, South Carolina, 29424, United States of America
| | - Andrew T. Chamberlain
- Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Phillip L. Manning
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
- Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, South Carolina, 29424, United States of America
| | - Michael Buckley
- Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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33
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Slater GJ, Cui P, Forasiepi AM, Lenz D, Tsangaras K, Voirin B, de Moraes-Barros N, MacPhee RDE, Greenwood AD. Evolutionary Relationships among Extinct and Extant Sloths: The Evidence of Mitogenomes and Retroviruses. Genome Biol Evol 2016; 8:607-21. [PMID: 26878870 PMCID: PMC4824031 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evw023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Macroevolutionary trends exhibited by retroviruses are complex and not entirely understood. The sloth endogenized foamy-like retrovirus (SloEFV), which demonstrates incongruence in virus–host evolution among extant sloths (Order Folivora), has not been investigated heretofore in any extinct sloth lineages and its premodern history within folivorans is therefore unknown. Determining retroviral coevolutionary trends requires a robust phylogeny of the viral host, but the highly reduced modern sloth fauna (6 species in 2 genera) does not adequately represent what was once a highly diversified clade (∼100 genera) of placental mammals. At present, the amount of molecular data available for extinct sloth taxa is limited, and analytical results based on these data tend to conflict with phylogenetic inferences made on the basis of morphological studies. To augment the molecular data set, we applied hybridization capture and next-generation Illumina sequencing to two extinct and three extant sloth species to retrieve full mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from the hosts and the polymerase gene of SloEFV. The results produced a fully resolved and well-supported phylogeny that supports dividing crown families into two major clades: 1) The three-toed sloth, Bradypus, and Nothrotheriidae and 2) Megalonychidae, including the two-toed sloth, Choloepus, and Mylodontidae. Our calibrated time tree indicates that the Miocene epoch (23.5 Ma), particularly its earlier part, was an important interval for folivoran diversification. Both extant and extinct sloths demonstrate multiple complex invasions of SloEFV into the ancestral sloth germline followed by subsequent introgressions across different sloth lineages. Thus, sloth mitogenome and SloEFV evolution occurred separately and in parallel among sloths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Graham J Slater
- Department of Paleobiology & Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
| | - Pin Cui
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Dorina Lenz
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Bryson Voirin
- Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Nadia de Moraes-Barros
- Cibio/Inbio - Centro De Investigação Em Biodiversidade E Recursos Genéticos, Universidade Do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
| | - Ross D E MacPhee
- Department of Mammalogy and Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
| | - Alex D Greenwood
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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34
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Soto-Centeno JA, O'brien M, Simmons NB. The Importance of Late Quaternary Climate Change and Karst on Distributions of Caribbean Mormoopid Bats. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2015. [DOI: 10.1206/3847.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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35
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Fitzpatrick SM. The Pre-Columbian Caribbean: Colonization, Population Dispersal, and Island Adaptations. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.1179/2055557115y.0000000010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
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Abstract
Clovis groups in Late Pleistocene North America occasionally hunted several now extinct large mammals. But whether their hunting drove 37 genera of animals to extinction has been disputed, largely for want of kill sites. Overkill proponents argue that there is more archaeological evidence than we ought to expect, that humans had the wherewithal to decimate what may have been millions of animals, and that the appearance of humans and the disappearance of the fauna is too striking to be a mere coincidence. Yet, there is less to these claims than meets the eye. Moreover, extinctions took place amid sweeping climatic and environmental changes as the Pleistocene came to an end. It has long been difficult to link those changes to mammalian extinctions, but the advent of ancient DNA, coupled with high-resolution paleoecological, radiocarbon, and archeological records, should help disentangle the relative role of changing climates and people in mammalian extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J. Meltzer
- Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275
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37
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Abstract
We report 95 vertebrate taxa (13 fishes, 11 reptiles, 63 birds, 8 mammals) from late Pleistocene bone deposits in Sawmill Sink, Abaco, The Bahamas. The >5,000 fossils were recovered by scuba divers on ledges at depths of 27-35 m below sea level. Of the 95 species, 39 (41%) no longer occur on Abaco (4 reptiles, 31 birds, 4 mammals). We estimate that 17 of the 39 losses (all of them birds) are linked to changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (PHT) (∼ 15-9 ka) in climate (becoming more warm and moist), habitat (expansion of broadleaf forest at the expense of pine woodland), sea level (rising from -80 m to nearly modern levels), and island area (receding from ∼ 17,000 km(2) to 1,214 km(2)). The remaining 22 losses likely are related to the presence of humans on Abaco for the past 1,000 y. Thus, the late Holocene arrival of people probably depleted more populations than the dramatic physical and biological changes associated with the PHT.
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38
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Faurby S, Svenning JC. Historic and prehistoric human-driven extinctions have reshaped global mammal diversity patterns. DIVERS DISTRIB 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- S. Faurby
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity; Department of Bioscience; Aarhus University; Ny Munkegade 114 DK-8000 Aarhus C Denmark
| | - J.-C. Svenning
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity; Department of Bioscience; Aarhus University; Ny Munkegade 114 DK-8000 Aarhus C Denmark
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39
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Soto-Centeno JA, Steadman DW. Fossils reject climate change as the cause of extinction of Caribbean bats. Sci Rep 2015; 5:7971. [PMID: 25610991 PMCID: PMC4302782 DOI: 10.1038/srep07971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2014] [Accepted: 12/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
We combined novel radiocarbon dates of bat fossils with time-scaled ecological niche models (ENM) to study bat extinctions in the Caribbean. Radiocarbon-dated fossils show that late Quaternary losses of bat populations took place during the late Holocene (<4 ka) rather than late Pleistocene (>10 ka). All bat radiocarbon dates from Abaco (Bahamas) that represent extirpated populations are younger than 4 ka. We include data on six bat species, three of which are Caribbean endemics, and include nectarivores as well as insectivores. Climate-based ENMs from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present reflect overall stability in distributions, with suitable climatic habitat being present over time. In the absence of radiocarbon dates, bat extinctions had been presumed to take place during the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 10 ka). Now we see that extirpation of bats on these tropical islands is more complex than previously thought and primarily postdates the major climate changes that took place during the late Pleistocene-Holocene transition.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Angel Soto-Centeno
- 1] Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024 USA [2] Department of Ornithology, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - David W Steadman
- Department of Ornithology, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
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40
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When did Carcharocles megalodon become extinct? A new analysis of the fossil record. PLoS One 2014; 9:e111086. [PMID: 25338197 PMCID: PMC4206505 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2014] [Accepted: 09/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Carcharocles megalodon (“Megalodon”) is the largest shark that ever lived. Based on its distribution, dental morphology, and associated fauna, it has been suggested that this species was a cosmopolitan apex predator that fed on marine mammals from the middle Miocene to the Pliocene (15.9–2.6 Ma). Prevailing theory suggests that the extinction of apex predators affects ecosystem dynamics. Accordingly, knowing the time of extinction of C. megalodon is a fundamental step towards understanding the effects of such an event in ancient communities. However, the time of extinction of this important species has never been quantitatively assessed. Here, we synthesize the most recent records of C. megalodon from the literature and scientific collections and infer the date of its extinction by making a novel use of the Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) model. Our results suggest that C. megalodon went extinct around 2.6 Ma. Furthermore, when contrasting our results with known ecological and macroevolutionary trends in marine mammals, it became evident that the modern composition and function of modern gigantic filter-feeding whales was established after the extinction of C. megalodon. Consequently, the study of the time of extinction of C. megalodon provides the basis to improve our understanding of the responses of marine species to the removal of apex predators, presenting a deep-time perspective for the conservation of modern ecosystems.
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Raj Pant S, Goswami A, Finarelli JA. Complex body size trends in the evolution of sloths (Xenarthra: Pilosa). BMC Evol Biol 2014; 14:184. [PMID: 25319928 PMCID: PMC4243956 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-014-0184-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Extant sloths present an evolutionary conundrum in that the two living genera are superficially similar (small-bodied, folivorous, arboreal) but diverged from one another approximately 30 million years ago and are phylogenetically separated by a radiation of medium to massive, mainly ground-dwelling, taxa. Indeed, the species in the two living genera are among the smallest, and perhaps most unusual, of the 50+ known sloth species, and must have independently and convergently evolved small size and arboreality. In order to accurately reconstruct sloth evolution, it is critical to incorporate their extinct diversity in analyses. Here, we used a dataset of 57 species of living and fossil sloths to examine changes in body mass mean and variance through their evolution, employing a general time-variable model that allows for analysis of evolutionary trends in continuous characters within clades lacking fully-resolved phylogenies, such as sloths. RESULTS Our analyses supported eight models, all of which partition sloths into multiple subgroups, suggesting distinct modes of body size evolution among the major sloth lineages. Model-averaged parameter values supported trended walks in most clades, with estimated rates of body mass change ranging as high as 126 kg/million years for the giant ground sloth clades Megatheriidae and Nothrotheriidae. Inclusion of living sloth species in the analyses weakened reconstructed rates for their respective groups, with estimated rates for Megalonychidae (large to giant ground sloths and the extant two-toed sloth) were four times higher when the extant genus Choloepus was excluded. CONCLUSIONS Analyses based on extant taxa alone have the potential to oversimplify or misidentify macroevolutionary patterns. This study demonstrates the impact that integration of data from the fossil record can have on reconstructions of character evolution and establishes that body size evolution in sloths was complex, but dominated by trended walks towards the enormous sizes exhibited in some recently extinct forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Raj Pant
- />Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT UK
| | - Anjali Goswami
- />Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT UK
- />Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT UK
| | - John A Finarelli
- />School of Biology & Environment Science, University College Dublin, Science Centre – West, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
- />UCD Earth Institute, University of College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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42
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Domination by Reptiles in a Terrestrial Food Web of the Bahamas Prior to Human Occupation. J HERPETOL 2014. [DOI: 10.1670/13-091r1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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43
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Kay RF. Biogeography in deep time - What do phylogenetics, geology, and paleoclimate tell us about early platyrrhine evolution? Mol Phylogenet Evol 2013; 82 Pt B:358-74. [PMID: 24333920 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2013.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2013] [Revised: 11/19/2013] [Accepted: 12/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Molecular data have converged on a consensus about the genus-level phylogeny of extant platyrrhine monkeys, but for most extinct taxa and certainly for those older than the Pleistocene we must rely upon morphological evidence from fossils. This raises the question as to how well anatomical data mirror molecular phylogenies and how best to deal with discrepancies between the molecular and morphological data as we seek to extend our phylogenies to the placement of fossil taxa. Here I present parsimony-based phylogenetic analyses of extant and fossil platyrrhines based on an anatomical dataset of 399 dental characters and osteological features of the cranium and postcranium. I sample 16 extant taxa (one from each platyrrhine genus) and 20 extinct taxa of platyrrhines. The tree structure is constrained with a "molecular scaffold" of extant species as implemented in maximum parsimony using PAUP with the molecular-based 'backbone' approach. The data set encompasses most of the known extinct species of platyrrhines, ranging in age from latest Oligocene (∼26 Ma) to the Recent. The tree is rooted with extant catarrhines, and Late Eocene and Early Oligocene African anthropoids. Among the more interesting patterns to emerge are: (1) known early platyrrhines from the Late Oligocene through Early Miocene (26-16.5Ma) represent only stem platyrrhine taxa; (2) representatives of the three living platyrrhine families first occur between 15.7 Ma and 13.5 Ma; and (3) recently extinct primates from the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola) are sister to the clade of extant platyrrhines and may have diverged in the Early Miocene. It is probable that the crown platyrrhine clade did not originate before about 20-24 Ma, a conclusion consistent with the phylogenetic analysis of fossil taxa presented here and with recent molecular clock estimates. The following biogeographic scenario is consistent with the phylogenetic findings and climatic and geologic evidence: Tropical South America has been a center for platyrrhine diversification since platyrrhines arrived on the continent in the middle Cenozoic. Platyrrhines dispersed from tropical South America to Patagonia at ∼25-24 Ma via a "Paraná Portal" through eastern South America across a retreating Paranense Sea. Phylogenetic bracketing suggests Antillean primates arrived via a sweepstakes route or island chain from northern South America in the Early Miocene, not via a proposed land bridge or island chain (GAARlandia) in the Early Oligocene (∼34 Ma). Patagonian and Antillean platyrrhines went extinct without leaving living descendants, the former at the end of the Early Miocene and the latter within the past six thousand years. Molecular evidence suggests crown platyrrhines arrived in Central America by crossing an intermittent connection through the Isthmus of Panama at or after 3.5Ma. Any more ancient Central American primates, should they be discovered, are unlikely to have given rise to the extant Central American taxa in situ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard F Kay
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology & Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Box 90383, Durham, NC 27708, United States.
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Hansford J, Nuñez-Miño JM, Young RP, Brace S, Brocca JL, Turvey ST. Taxonomy-testing and the ‘Goldilocks Hypothesis’: morphometric analysis of species diversity in living and extinct Hispaniolan hutias. SYST BIODIVERS 2012. [DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2012.748697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- James Hansford
- a Department of Biology , University of York, Wentworth Way , York YO10 5DD , UK
- b Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park , London , NW1 4RY , UK
| | - José M. Nuñez-Miño
- c Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Trinity , Jersey JE3 5BP, Channel Islands
| | - Richard P. Young
- c Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Trinity , Jersey JE3 5BP, Channel Islands
- d Department of Biology and Biochemistry , University of Bath , Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Selina Brace
- e School of Biological Sciences , Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX , UK
| | - Jorge L. Brocca
- f Sociedad Ornitológica de la Hispaniola , Parque Zoologico Nacional, Avenida de la Vega Real, Arroyo Hondo , Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic
| | - Samuel T. Turvey
- b Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park , London , NW1 4RY , UK
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Quantitative global analysis of the role of climate and people in explaining late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012; 109:4527-31. [PMID: 22393004 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113875109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The late Quaternary period saw the rapid extinction of the majority of the world's terrestrial megafauna. The cause of these dramatic losses, especially the relative importance of climatic change and the impacts of newly arrived people, remains highly controversial, with geographically restricted analyses generating conflicting conclusions. By analyzing the distribution and timing of all megafaunal extinctions in relation to climatic variables and human arrival on five landmasses, we demonstrate that the observed pattern of extinctions is best explained by models that combine both human arrival and climatic variables. Our conclusions are robust to uncertainties in climate data and in the dates of megafaunal extinctions and human arrival on different landmasses, and strongly suggest that these extinctions were driven by both anthropogenic and climatic factors.
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Turvey ST, Fritz SA. The ghosts of mammals past: biological and geographical patterns of global mammalian extinction across the Holocene. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:2564-76. [PMID: 21807737 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the recent historical period is usually treated as a temporal base-line for understanding patterns of mammal extinction, mammalian biodiversity loss has also taken place throughout the Late Quaternary. We explore the spatial, taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns of 241 mammal species extinctions known to have occurred during the Holocene up to the present day. To assess whether our understanding of mammalian threat processes has been affected by excluding these taxa, we incorporate extinct species data into analyses of the impact of body mass on extinction risk. We find that Holocene extinctions have been phylogenetically and spatially concentrated in specific taxa and geographical regions, which are often not congruent with those disproportionately at risk today. Large-bodied mammals have also been more extinction-prone in most geographical regions across the Holocene. Our data support the extinction filter hypothesis, whereby regional faunas from which susceptible species have already become extinct now appear less threatened; they may also suggest that different processes are responsible for driving past and present extinctions. We also find overall incompleteness and inter-regional biases in extinction data from the recent fossil record. Although direct use of fossil data in future projections of extinction risk is therefore not straightforward, insights into extinction processes from the Holocene record are still useful in understanding mammalian threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel T Turvey
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, UK.
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McAfee RK. Feeding mechanics and dietary implications in the fossil sloth Neocnus (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Megalonychidae) from Haiti. J Morphol 2011; 272:1204-16. [PMID: 21638306 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2010] [Revised: 03/03/2011] [Accepted: 03/31/2011] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Haitian species of the extinct ground sloth genus Neocnus (Mammalia: Pilosa: Megalonychidae) have previously been hypothesized to have a much reduced jugal bone and a correspondingly reduced masseter musculature but a paucity of specimens has prevented further investigation of this hypothesis. Recent discovery of jugal bones belonging to Haitian specimens of Neocnus within the University of Florida Museum collections enables the element to be more accurately described. The discovery also makes it possible to explore mastication in these sloths. Osteological characters related to feeding were examined, along with comparative estimations of bite force with the extant tree sloths, Bradypus and Choloepus, and their known dietary habits as a means to infer aspects of the paleodiet of Neocnus. There is a significant difference in moment arm calculations for m. masseter between predicted and actual jugals, but the overall significance for bite force is lost and hampered by small sample size. Neocnus demonstrates a variety of characters that are similar to those of Bradypus and not to Choloepus, which is a close phylogenetic relative. The masticatory musculature of Neocnus enabled a chewing cycle emphasizing a grinding combination of mesiodistal and linguobuccal movements of the molariform dentition. The orientations of m. masseter and m. temporalis are estimated to produce relatively high bite force ratios that imply a masticatory system with stronger versus faster components. Because of the similarity of bite forces and jaw mechanics to those of Bradypus, in addition to a number of osteological adaptations indicative of herbivorous grazers (elevated mandibular condyle, large and complex masseter, and robust angular process), the Haitian forms of Neocnus are considered to have been selective feeders with a folivorous diet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert K McAfee
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65212, USA.
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Cole KL, Ironside K, Eischeid J, Garfin G, Duffy PB, Toney C. Past and ongoing shifts in Joshua tree distribution support future modeled range contraction. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2011; 21:137-49. [PMID: 21516893 DOI: 10.1890/09-1800.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The future distribution of the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is projected by combining a geostatistical analysis of 20th-century climates over its current range, future modeled climates, and paleoecological data showing its response to a past similar climate change. As climate rapidly warmed approximately 11 700 years ago, the range of Joshua tree contracted, leaving only the populations near what had been its northernmost limit. Its ability to spread northward into new suitable habitats after this time may have been inhibited by the somewhat earlier extinction of megafaunal dispersers, especially the Shasta ground sloth. We applied a model of climate suitability for Joshua tree, developed from its 20th-century range and climates, to future climates modeled through a set of six individual general circulation models (GCM) and one suite of 22 models for the late 21st century. All distribution data, observed climate data, and future GCM results were scaled to spatial grids of approximately 1 km and approximately 4 km in order to facilitate application within this topographically Complex region. All of the models project the future elimination of Joshua tree throughout most of the southern portions of its current range. Although estimates of future monthly precipitation differ between the models, these changes are outweighed by large increases in temperature common to all the models. Only a few populations within the current range are predicted to be sustainable. Several models project significant potential future expansion into new areas beyond the current range, but the species' historical and current rates of dispersal would seem to prevent natural expansion into these new areas. Several areas are predicted to be potential sites for relocation/ assisted migration. This project demonstrates how information from paleoecology and modern ecology can be integrated in order to understand ongoing processes and fuiture distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth L Cole
- USGS, Colorado Plateau Research Station, P.O. Box 5614, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA.
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PROST S, KNAPP M, FLEMMIG J, HUFTHAMMER AK, KOSINTSEV P, STILLER M, HOFREITER M. SHORT COMMUNICATION: A phantom extinction? New insights into extinction dynamics of the Don-hare Lepus tanaiticus. J Evol Biol 2010; 23:2022-9. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02062.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Erlandson JM, Rick TC. Archaeology meets marine ecology: the antiquity of maritime cultures and human impacts on marine fisheries and ecosystems. ANNUAL REVIEW OF MARINE SCIENCE 2010; 2:231-251. [PMID: 21141664 DOI: 10.1146/annurev.marine.010908.163749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Interdisciplinary study of coastal archaeological sites provides a wealth of information on the ecology and evolution of ancient marine animal populations, the structure of past marine ecosystems, and the history of human impacts on coastal fisheries. In this paper, we review recent methodological developments in the archaeology and historical ecology of coastal regions around the world. Using two case studies, we examine (a) a deep history of anthropogenic effects on the marine ecosystems of California's Channel Islands through the past 12,000 years and (b) geographic variation in the effects of human fishing on Pacific Island peoples who spread through Oceania during the late Holocene. These case studies--the first focused on hunter-gatherers, the second on maritime horticulturalists-provide evidence for shifting baselines and timelines, documenting a much deeper anthropogenic influence on many coastal ecosystems and fisheries than considered by most ecologists, conservation biologists, and fisheries managers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon M Erlandson
- Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1224, USA.
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