1
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Cannell A. The possible adaption of the human respiratory system to past atmospheres. Exp Physiol 2024; 109:833-836. [PMID: 38533636 PMCID: PMC11140167 DOI: 10.1113/ep091713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Alan Cannell
- Institute of Advanced Studies (Human Evolution), University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- ISIPU, Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Rome, Italy
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2
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The Early History of Giant Cockroaches: Gyroblattids and Necymylacrids (Blattodea) of the Late Carboniferous. DIVERSITY 2023. [DOI: 10.3390/d15030429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
Large-winged blattoids of the Middle to Late Pennsylvanian reveal a striking appearance, diversification, and decline in the fossil record. Among them, the families Necymylacridae Durden, 1969, and Gyroblattidae Durden, 1969, as well as the mylacrid genus Opsiomylacris exhibit, the largest pre-Cenozoic blattoids with forewing lengths up to 7.5 cm. As finds from coal-bearing sedimentary basins in Europe, North Africa, and North America indicate, these giant insects started to spread around the Bashkirian–Moscovian transition and experienced a diversification in late Moscovian and Kasimovian times, until they disappeared in the middle Gzhelian. Whereas necymylacrids are only patchily reported and still lack distributional patterns, we disclose the occurrence and particular habitat preference of gyroblattids. Although appearing first in some vast North American basins, they became successively widespread only in small-sized basins of the European Variscan interior. Frequently found associated with enigmatic gymnosperms, they may have lived in well-drained hinterland areas from where they immigrated into the ever-wet basin centers only with increasing seasonality. Gyroblattids apparently followed meso- to xerophilous plants and likely colonized spaces offering a broader spectrum of edaphic conditions that resulted from the closeness of erosional and depositional areas. The presented analysis and revision of all gyroblattids aim to facilitate future more realistic biodiversity estimations based on fossil taxa.
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3
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Boyce CK, Ibarra DE, Nelsen MP, D'Antonio MP. Nitrogen-based symbioses, phosphorus availability, and accounting for a modern world more productive than the Paleozoic. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:86-101. [PMID: 35949039 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Evolution of high-productivity angiosperms has been regarded as a driver of Mesozoic ecosystem restructuring. However, terrestrial productivity is limited by availability of rock-derived nutrients such as phosphorus for which permanent increases in weathering would violate mass balance requirements of the long-term carbon cycle. The potential reality of productivity increases sustained since the Mesozoic is supported here with documentation of a dramatic increase in the evolution of nitrogen-fixing or nitrogen-scavenging symbioses, including more than 100 lineages of ectomycorrhizal and lichen-forming fungi and plants with specialized microbial associations. Given this evidence of broadly increased nitrogen availability, we explore via carbon cycle modeling how enhanced phosphorus availability might be sustained without violating mass balance requirements. Volcanism is the dominant carbon input, dictating peaks in weathering outputs up to twice modern values. However, times of weathering rate suppression may be more important for setting system behavior, and the late Paleozoic was the only extended period over which rates are expected to have remained lower than modern. Modeling results are consistent with terrestrial organic matter deposition that accompanied Paleozoic vascular plant evolution having suppressed weathering fluxes by providing an alternative sink of atmospheric CO2 . Suppression would have then been progressively lifted as the crustal reservoir's holding capacity for terrestrial organic matter saturated back toward steady state with deposition of new organic matter balanced by erosion of older organic deposits. Although not an absolute increase, weathering fluxes returning to early Paleozoic conditions would represent a novel regime for the complex land biota that evolved in the interim. Volcanism-based peaks in Mesozoic weathering far surpass the modern rates that sustain a complex diversity of nitrogen-based symbioses; only in the late Paleozoic might these ecologies have been suppressed by significantly lower rates. Thus, angiosperms are posited to be another effect rather than proximal cause of Mesozoic upheaval.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Kevin Boyce
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Daniel E Ibarra
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
- Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Science, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
| | - Matthew P Nelsen
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Michael P D'Antonio
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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4
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Schachat SR, Goldstein PZ, Desalle R, Bobo DM, Boyce CK, Payne JL, Labandeira CC. Illusion of flight? Absence, evidence and the age of winged insects. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blac137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The earliest fossils of winged insects (Pterygota) are mid-Carboniferous (latest Mississippian, 328–324 Mya), but estimates of their age based on fossil-calibrated molecular phylogenetic studies place their origin at 440–370 Mya during the Silurian or Devonian. This discrepancy would require that winged insects evaded fossilization for at least the first ~50 Myr of their history. Here, we examine the plausibility of such a gap in the fossil record, and possible explanations for it, based on comparisons with the fossil records of other arthropod groups, the distribution of first occurrence dates of pterygote families, phylogenetically informed simulations of the fossilization of Palaeozoic insects, and re-analysis of data presented by Misof and colleagues using updated fossil calibrations under a variety of prior probability settings. We do not find support for the mechanisms previously suggested to account for such an extended gap in the pterygote fossil record, including sampling bias, preservation bias, and body size. We suggest that inference of an early origin of Pterygota long prior to their first appearance in the fossil record is probably an analytical artefact of taxon sampling and choice of fossil calibration points, possibly compounded by heterogeneity in rates of sequence evolution or speciation, including radiations or ‘bursts’ during their early history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra R Schachat
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Paul Z Goldstein
- Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC , USA
| | - Rob Desalle
- American Museum of Natural History, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics , New York, NY , USA
| | - Dean M Bobo
- American Museum of Natural History, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics , New York, NY , USA
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University , New York, NY , USA
| | - C Kevin Boyce
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Jonathan L Payne
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Conrad C Labandeira
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC , USA
- Department of Entomology and Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Program, University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
- Capital Normal University, School of Life Sciences , Beijing , China
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5
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Tihelka E, Howard RJ, Cai C, Lozano-Fernandez J. Was There a Cambrian Explosion on Land? The Case of Arthropod Terrestrialization. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:biology11101516. [PMID: 36290419 PMCID: PMC9598930 DOI: 10.3390/biology11101516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Arthropods, the most diverse form of macroscopic life in the history of the Earth, originated in the sea. Since the early Cambrian, at least ~518 million years ago, these animals have dominated the oceans of the world. By the Silurian-Devonian, the fossil record attests to arthropods becoming the first animals to colonize land, However, a growing body of molecular dating and palaeontological evidence suggests that the three major terrestrial arthropod groups (myriapods, hexapods, and arachnids), as well as vascular plants, may have invaded land as early as the Cambrian-Ordovician. These dates precede the oldest fossil evidence of those groups and suggest an unrecorded continental "Cambrian explosion" a hundred million years prior to the formation of early complex terrestrial ecosystems in the Silurian-Devonian. We review the palaeontological, phylogenomic, and molecular clock evidence pertaining to the proposed Cambrian terrestrialization of the arthropods. We argue that despite the challenges posed by incomplete preservation and the scarcity of early Palaeozoic terrestrial deposits, the discrepancy between molecular clock estimates and the fossil record is narrower than is often claimed. We discuss strategies for closing the gap between molecular clock estimates and fossil data in the evolution of early ecosystems on land.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Tihelka
- School of Earth and Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Richard J. Howard
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Chenyang Cai
- School of Earth and Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Jesus Lozano-Fernandez
- School of Earth and Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics & Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Correspondence:
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6
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Krause AJ, Mills BJW, Merdith AS, Lenton TM, Poulton SW. Extreme variability in atmospheric oxygen levels in the late Precambrian. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm8191. [PMID: 36240275 PMCID: PMC9565794 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm8191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Mapping the history of atmospheric O2 during the late Precambrian is vital for evaluating potential links to animal evolution. Ancient O2 levels are often inferred from geochemical analyses of marine sediments, leading to the assumption that the Earth experienced a stepwise increase in atmospheric O2 during the Neoproterozoic. However, the nature of this hypothesized oxygenation event remains unknown, with suggestions of a more dynamic O2 history in the oceans and major uncertainty over any direct connection between the marine realm and atmospheric O2. Here, we present a continuous quantitative reconstruction of atmospheric O2 over the past 1.5 billion years using an isotope mass balance approach that combines bulk geochemistry and tectonic recycling rate calculations. We predict that atmospheric O2 levels during the Neoproterozoic oscillated between ~1 and ~50% of the present atmospheric level. We conclude that there was no simple unidirectional rise in atmospheric O2 during the Neoproterozoic, and the first animals evolved against a backdrop of extreme O2 variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Krause
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, 5 Gower Place, London WC1E 6BS, UK
| | | | - Andrew S. Merdith
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, UMR CNRS 5276, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon1, 2, rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | | | - Simon W. Poulton
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
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7
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Buatois LA, Davies NS, Gibling MR, Krapovickas V, Labandeira CC, MacNaughton RB, Mángano MG, Minter NJ, Shillito AP. The Invasion of the Land in Deep Time: Integrating Paleozoic Records of Paleobiology, Ichnology, Sedimentology, and Geomorphology. Integr Comp Biol 2022; 62:297-331. [PMID: 35640908 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icac059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The invasion of the land was a complex, protracted process, punctuated by mass extinctions, that involved multiple routes from marine environments. We integrate paleobiology, ichnology, sedimentology, and geomorphology to reconstruct Paleozoic terrestrialization. Cambrian landscapes were dominated by laterally mobile rivers with unstable banks in the absence of significant vegetation. Temporary incursions by arthropods and worm-like organisms into coastal environments apparently did not result in establishment of continental communities. Contemporaneous lacustrine faunas may have been inhibited by limited nutrient delivery and high sediment loads. The Ordovician appearance of early land plants triggered a shift in the primary locus of the global clay mineral factory, increasing the amount of mudrock on the continents. The Silurian-Devonian rise of vascular land plants, including the first forests and extensive root systems, was instrumental in further retaining fine sediment on alluvial plains. These innovations led to increased architectural complexity of braided and meandering rivers. Landscape changes were synchronous with establishment of freshwater and terrestrial arthropod faunas in overbank areas, abandoned fluvial channels, lake margins, ephemeral lakes, and inland deserts. Silurian-Devonian lakes experienced improved nutrient availability, due to increased phosphate weathering and terrestrial humic matter. All these changes favoured frequent invasions to permament establishment of jawless and jawed fishes in freshwater habitats and the subsequent tetrapod colonization of the land. The Carboniferous saw rapid diversification of tetrapods, mostly linked to aquatic reproduction, and land plants, including gymnosperms. Deeper root systems promoted further riverbank stabilization, contributing to the rise of anabranching rivers and braided systems with vegetated islands. New lineages of aquatic insects developed and expanded novel feeding modes, including herbivory. Late Paleozoic soils commonly contain pervasive root and millipede traces. Lacustrine animal communities diversified, accompanied by increased food-web complexity and improved food delivery which may have favored permanent colonization of offshore and deep-water lake environments. These trends continued in the Permian, but progressive aridification favored formation of hypersaline lakes, which were stressful for colonization. The Capitanian and end-Permian extinctions affected lacustrine and fluvial biotas, particularly the invertebrate infauna, although burrowing may have allowed some tetrapods to survive associated global warming and increased aridification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis A Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Neil S Davies
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Martin R Gibling
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Verónica Krapovickas
- Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes 2160, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA, Argentina
| | - Conrad C Labandeira
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20013-7012, USA.,Department of Entomology and BEES Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 21740, USA.,College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Robert B MacNaughton
- Geological Survey of Canada (Calgary), Natural Resources Canada, Calgary, Alberta T2L 2A7, Canada
| | - M Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Nicholas J Minter
- School of the Environment, Geography, and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 3QL, UK
| | - Anthony P Shillito
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK
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8
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Cai C, Tihelka E, Giacomelli M, Lawrence JF, Ślipiński A, Kundrata R, Yamamoto S, Thayer MK, Newton AF, Leschen RAB, Gimmel ML, Lü L, Engel MS, Bouchard P, Huang D, Pisani D, Donoghue PCJ. Integrated phylogenomics and fossil data illuminate the evolution of beetles. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211771. [PMID: 35345430 PMCID: PMC8941382 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Beetles constitute the most biodiverse animal order with over 380 000 described species and possibly several million more yet unnamed. Recent phylogenomic studies have arrived at considerably incongruent topologies and widely varying estimates of divergence dates for major beetle clades. Here, we use a dataset of 68 single-copy nuclear protein-coding (NPC) genes sampling 129 out of the 193 recognized extant families as well as the first comprehensive set of fully justified fossil calibrations to recover a refined timescale of beetle evolution. Using phylogenetic methods that counter the effects of compositional and rate heterogeneity, we recover a topology congruent with morphological studies, which we use, combined with other recent phylogenomic studies, to propose several formal changes in the classification of Coleoptera: Scirtiformia and Scirtoidea sensu nov., Clambiformia ser. nov. and Clamboidea sensu nov., Rhinorhipiformia ser. nov., Byrrhoidea sensu nov., Dryopoidea stat. res., Nosodendriformia ser. nov. and Staphyliniformia sensu nov., and Erotyloidea stat. nov., Nitiduloidea stat. nov. and Cucujoidea sensu nov., alongside changes below the superfamily level. Our divergence time analyses recovered a late Carboniferous origin of Coleoptera, a late Palaeozoic origin of all modern beetle suborders and a Triassic-Jurassic origin of most extant families, while fundamental divergences within beetle phylogeny did not coincide with the hypothesis of a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenyang Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Erik Tihelka
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Mattia Giacomelli
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - John F. Lawrence
- Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Adam Ślipiński
- Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Robin Kundrata
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. listopadu 50, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Shûhei Yamamoto
- Hokkaido University Museum, Hokkaido University, Kita 8, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0808, Japan
| | - Margaret K. Thayer
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Alfred F. Newton
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Richard A. B. Leschen
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Matthew L. Gimmel
- Invertebrate Zoology Department, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, USA
| | - Liang Lü
- College of Life Science, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, People's Republic of China
| | - Michael S. Engel
- Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Patrice Bouchard
- Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
| | - Diying Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Davide Pisani
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Philip C. J. Donoghue
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
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9
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Cooke GJ, Marsh DR, Walsh C, Black B, Lamarque JF. A revised lower estimate of ozone columns during Earth's oxygenated history. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211165. [PMID: 35070343 PMCID: PMC8728182 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The history of molecular oxygen (O2) in Earth's atmosphere is still debated; however, geological evidence supports at least two major episodes where O2 increased by an order of magnitude or more: the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) and the Neoproterozoic Oxidation Event. O2 concentrations have likely fluctuated (between 10-3 and 1.5 times the present atmospheric level) since the GOE ∼2.4 Gyr ago, resulting in a time-varying ozone (O3) layer. Using a three-dimensional chemistry-climate model, we simulate changes in O3 in Earth's atmosphere since the GOE and consider the implications for surface habitability, and glaciation during the Mesoproterozoic. We find lower O3 columns (reduced by up to 4.68 times for a given O2 level) compared to previous work; hence, higher fluxes of biologically harmful UV radiation would have reached the surface. Reduced O3 leads to enhanced tropospheric production of the hydroxyl radical (OH) which then substantially reduces the lifetime of methane (CH4). We show that a CH4 supported greenhouse effect during the Mesoproterozoic is highly unlikely. The reduced O3 columns we simulate have important implications for astrobiological and terrestrial habitability, demonstrating the relevance of three-dimensional chemistry-climate simulations when assessing paleoclimates and the habitability of faraway worlds.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. J. Cooke
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - D. R. Marsh
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - C. Walsh
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - B. Black
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, CUNY City College, New York, NY, USA
| | - J.-F. Lamarque
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
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10
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Bush AM, Payne JL. Biotic and Abiotic Controls on the Phanerozoic History of Marine Animal Biodiversity. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS 2021. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-035131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
During the past 541 million years, marine animals underwent three intervals of diversification (early Cambrian, Ordovician, Cretaceous–Cenozoic) separated by nondirectional fluctuation, suggesting diversity-dependent dynamics with the equilibrium diversity shifting through time. Changes in factors such as shallow-marine habitat area and climate appear to have modulated the nondirectional fluctuations. Directional increases in diversity are best explained by evolutionary innovations in marine animals and primary producers coupled with stepwise increases in the availability of food and oxygen. Increasing intensity of biotic interactions such as predation and disturbance may have led to positive feedbacks on diversification as ecosystems became more complex. Important areas for further research include improving the geographic coverage and temporal resolution of paleontological data sets, as well as deepening our understanding of Earth system evolution and the physiological and ecological traits that modulated organismal responses to environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew M. Bush
- Department of Geosciences and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
| | - Jonathan L. Payne
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
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11
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Pšenička J, Bek J, Frýda J, Žárský V, Uhlířová M, Štorch P. Dynamics of Silurian Plants as Response to Climate Changes. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:906. [PMID: 34575055 PMCID: PMC8470493 DOI: 10.3390/life11090906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The most ancient macroscopic plants fossils are Early Silurian cooksonioid sporophytes from the volcanic islands of the peri-Gondwanan palaeoregion (the Barrandian area, Prague Basin, Czech Republic). However, available palynological, phylogenetic and geological evidence indicates that the history of plant terrestrialization is much longer and it is recently accepted that land floras, producing different types of spores, already were established in the Ordovician Period. Here we attempt to correlate Silurian floral development with environmental dynamics based on our data from the Prague Basin, but also to compile known data on a global scale. Spore-assemblage analysis clearly indicates a significant and almost exponential expansion of trilete-spore producing plants starting during the Wenlock Epoch, while cryptospore-producers, which dominated until the Telychian Age, were evolutionarily stagnate. Interestingly cryptospore vs. trilete-spore producers seem to react differentially to Silurian glaciations-trilete-spore producing plants react more sensitively to glacial cooling, showing a reduction in species numbers. Both our own and compiled data indicate highly terrestrialized, advanced Silurian land-plant assemblage/flora types with obviously great ability to resist different dry-land stress conditions. As previously suggested some authors, they seem to evolve on different palaeo continents into quite disjunct specific plant assemblages, certainly reflecting the different geological, geographical and climatic conditions to which they were subject.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josef Pšenička
- Centre of Palaeobiodiversity, West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen, Kopeckého sady 2, 301 00 Plzeň, Czech Republic;
| | - Jiří Bek
- Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Palaeoecology, Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; (J.B.); (V.Ž.); (P.Š.)
| | - Jiří Frýda
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Czech Republic;
- Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 3/131, 118 21 Prague 1, Czech Republic
| | - Viktor Žárský
- Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Palaeoecology, Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; (J.B.); (V.Ž.); (P.Š.)
- Department of Experimental Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 5, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic
- Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., Rozvojová 263, 165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Monika Uhlířová
- Centre of Palaeobiodiversity, West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen, Kopeckého sady 2, 301 00 Plzeň, Czech Republic;
- Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Štorch
- Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Palaeoecology, Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; (J.B.); (V.Ž.); (P.Š.)
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12
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Sperling EA, Melchin MJ, Fraser T, Stockey RG, Farrell UC, Bhajan L, Brunoir TN, Cole DB, Gill BC, Lenz A, Loydell DK, Malinowski J, Miller AJ, Plaza-Torres S, Bock B, Rooney AD, Tecklenburg SA, Vogel JM, Planavsky NJ, Strauss JV. A long-term record of early to mid-Paleozoic marine redox change. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/28/eabf4382. [PMID: 34233874 PMCID: PMC8262801 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf4382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The extent to which Paleozoic oceans differed from Neoproterozoic oceans and the causal relationship between biological evolution and changing environmental conditions are heavily debated. Here, we report a nearly continuous record of seafloor redox change from the deep-water upper Cambrian to Middle Devonian Road River Group of Yukon, Canada. Bottom waters were largely anoxic in the Richardson trough during the entirety of Road River Group deposition, while independent evidence from iron speciation and Mo/U ratios show that the biogeochemical nature of anoxia changed through time. Both in Yukon and globally, Ordovician through Early Devonian anoxic waters were broadly ferruginous (nonsulfidic), with a transition toward more euxinic (sulfidic) conditions in the mid-Early Devonian (Pragian), coincident with the early diversification of vascular plants and disappearance of graptolites. This ~80-million-year interval of the Paleozoic characterized by widespread ferruginous bottom waters represents a persistence of Neoproterozoic-like marine redox conditions well into the Phanerozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik A Sperling
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Michael J Melchin
- Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | | | - Richard G Stockey
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Una C Farrell
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Liam Bhajan
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Tessa N Brunoir
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Devon B Cole
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Benjamin C Gill
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic University and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Alfred Lenz
- Department of Earth Sciences, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada
| | - David K Loydell
- School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
| | | | - Austin J Miller
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Beatrice Bock
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Alan D Rooney
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Jacqueline M Vogel
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Justin V Strauss
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
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13
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Sønderholm F, Bjerrum CJ. Minimum levels of atmospheric oxygen from fossil tree roots imply new plant-oxygen feedback. GEOBIOLOGY 2021; 19:250-260. [PMID: 33608990 PMCID: PMC8248171 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The appearance and subsequent evolution of land plants is among the most important events in the earth system. Plant resulted in a change of earth surface albedo and the hydrological cycle, as well as increased rock weatherability thereby causing a persistent change in atmospheric CO2 and O2 . Land plants are, however, themselves dependent on O2 for respiration and long-term survival, something not considered in current geochemical models. In this perspective, we highlight two aspects of land plants' dependency on O2 relevant for the geobiological community: (a) fossil root systems can be used as a proxy for minimum levels of past atmospheric O2 consistent with a given fossil root depth; and (b) by identifying a positive feedback mechanism involving atmospheric O2 , root intensity, terrestrial primary production and organic carbon burial. As an example, we consider archaeopterid fossil root systems, resembling those of modern mature conifers. Our soil-plant model suggest that atmospheric O2 with 1 SD probably reached pressures of 18.2 ± 1.9 kPa and 16.8 ± 2.1 kPa by the Middle and Late Devonian, respectively, that is 86 ± 9% and 79 ± 10% of the present-day 21.2 kPa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fredrik Sønderholm
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
| | - Christian J. Bjerrum
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
- Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
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14
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Berenbrink M. The role of myoglobin in the evolution of mammalian diving capacity – The August Krogh principle applied in molecular and evolutionary physiology. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2021; 252:110843. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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15
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Schachner ER, Hedrick BP, Richbourg HA, Hutchinson JR, Farmer CG. Anatomy, ontogeny, and evolution of the archosaurian respiratory system: A case study on Alligator mississippiensis and Struthio camelus. J Anat 2020; 238:845-873. [PMID: 33345301 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The avian lung is highly specialized and is both functionally and morphologically distinct from that of their closest extant relatives, the crocodilians. It is highly partitioned, with a unidirectionally ventilated and immobilized gas-exchanging lung, and functionally decoupled, compliant, poorly vascularized ventilatory air-sacs. To understand the evolutionary history of the archosaurian respiratory system, it is essential to determine which anatomical characteristics are shared between birds and crocodilians and the role these shared traits play in their respective respiratory biology. To begin to address this larger question, we examined the anatomy of the lung and bronchial tree of 10 American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) and 11 ostriches (Struthio camelus) across an ontogenetic series using traditional and micro-computed tomography (µCT), three-dimensional (3D) digital models, and morphometry. Intraspecific variation and left to right asymmetry were present in certain aspects of the bronchial tree of both taxa but was particularly evident in the cardiac (medial) region of the lungs of alligators and the caudal aspect of the bronchial tree in both species. The cross-sectional area of the primary bronchus at the level of the major secondary airways and cross-sectional area of ostia scaled either isometrically or negatively allometrically in alligators and isometrically or positively allometrically in ostriches with respect to body mass. Of 15 lung metrics, five were significantly different between the alligator and ostrich, suggesting that these aspects of the lung are more interspecifically plastic in archosaurs. One metric, the distances between the carina and each of the major secondary airways, had minimal intraspecific or ontogenetic variation in both alligators and ostriches, and thus may be a conserved trait in both taxa. In contrast to previous descriptions, the 3D digital models and CT scan data demonstrate that the pulmonary diverticula pneumatize the axial skeleton of the ostrich directly from the gas-exchanging pulmonary tissues instead of the air sacs. Global and specific comparisons between the bronchial topography of the alligator and ostrich reveal multiple possible homologies, suggesting that certain structural aspects of the bronchial tree are likely conserved across Archosauria, and may have been present in the ancestral archosaurian lung.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma R Schachner
- Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Brandon P Hedrick
- Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Heather A Richbourg
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - John R Hutchinson
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Structure & Motion Laboratory, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hatfield, UK
| | - C G Farmer
- Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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16
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Condamine FL, Nel A, Grandcolas P, Legendre F. Fossil and phylogenetic analyses reveal recurrent periods of diversification and extinction in dictyopteran insects. Cladistics 2020; 36:394-412. [PMID: 34619806 DOI: 10.1111/cla.12412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Variations of speciation and extinction rates determine the fate of clades through time. Periods of high diversification and extinction (possibly mass-extinction events) can punctuate the evolutionary history of various clades, but they remain loosely defined for many biological groups, especially nonmarine invertebrates like insects. Here, we examine whether the cockroaches, mantises and termites (altogether included in Dictyoptera) have experienced episodic pulses of speciation or extinction and how these pulses may be associated with environmental fluctuations or mass extinctions. We relied on molecular phylogeny and fossil data to shed light on the times and rates at which dictyopterans diversified. The diversification of Dictyoptera has alternated between (i) periods of high diversification in the late Carboniferous, Early-Middle Triassic, Early Cretaceous and middle Palaeogene, and (ii) periods of high extinction rates particularly at the Permian-Triassic boundary, but not necessarily correlated with the major global biodiversity crises as in the mid-Cretaceous. This study advocates the importance of analyzing, when possible, both molecular phylogeny and fossil data to unveil diversification and extinction periods for a given group. The causes and consequences of extinction must be studied beyond mass-extinction events alone to gain a broader understanding of how clades wax and wane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien L Condamine
- CNRS, UMR 5554 Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier
- CNRS
- IRD
- EPHE), Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier, France
| | - André Nel
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, SU, EPHE, UA, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Philippe Grandcolas
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, SU, EPHE, UA, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Frédéric Legendre
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, SU, EPHE, UA, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France
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17
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Brocklehurst N, Kammerer CF, Benson RJ. The origin of tetrapod herbivory: effects on local plant diversity. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200124. [PMID: 32517628 PMCID: PMC7341937 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The origin of herbivory in the Carboniferous was a landmark event in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, increasing ecological diversity in animals but also giving them greater influence on the evolution of land plants. We evaluate the effect of early vertebrate herbivory on plant evolution by comparing local species richness of plant palaeofloras with that of vertebrate herbivores and herbivore body size. Vertebrate herbivores became diverse and achieved a much greater range of body sizes across the Carboniferous-Permian transition interval. This coincides with an abrupt reduction in local plant richness that persists throughout the Permian. Time-series regression analysis supports a negative relationship of plant richness with herbivore richness but a positive relationship of plant richness with minimum herbivore body size. This is consistent with studies of present-day ecosystems in which increased diversity of smaller, more selective herbivores places greater predation pressures on plants, while a prevalence of larger bodied, less selective herbivores reduces the dominance of a few highly tolerant plant species, thereby promoting greater local richness. The diversification of herbivores across the Carboniferous-Permian boundary, along with the appearance of smaller, more selective herbivores like bolosaurid parareptiles, constrained plant diversity throughout the Permian. These findings demonstrate that the establishment of widespread vertebrate herbivory has structured plant communities since the late Palaeozoic, as expected from examination of modern ecosystems, and illustrates the potential for fossil datasets in testing palaeoecological hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil Brocklehurst
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Roger J. Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK
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18
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Berenbrink M. Extinct proteins resurrected to reconstruct the evolution of vertebrate haemoglobin. Nature 2020; 581:388-389. [DOI: 10.1038/d41586-020-01287-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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19
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Marshall JEA, Lakin J, Troth I, Wallace-Johnson SM. UV-B radiation was the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary terrestrial extinction kill mechanism. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba0768. [PMID: 32518822 PMCID: PMC7253167 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
There is an unexplained terrestrial mass extinction at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary (359 million years ago). The discovery in east Greenland of malformed land plant spores demonstrates that the extinction was coincident with elevated UV-B radiation demonstrating ozone layer reduction. Mercury data through the extinction level prove that, unlike other mass extinctions, there were no planetary scale volcanic eruptions. Importantly, the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary terrestrial mass extinction was coincident with a major climatic warming that ended the intense final glacial cycle of the latest Devonian ice age. A mechanism for ozone layer reduction during rapid warming is increased convective transport of ClO. Hence, ozone loss during rapid warming is an inherent Earth system process with the unavoidable conclusion that we should be alert for such an eventuality in the future warming world.
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Affiliation(s)
- John E. A. Marshall
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Jon Lakin
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Ian Troth
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
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20
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Abstract
Air-breathing animals do not experience hyperoxia (inspired O2 > 21%) in nature, but preterm and full-term infants often experience hyperoxia/hyperoxemia in clinical settings. This article focuses on the effects of normobaric hyperoxia during the perinatal period on breathing in humans and other mammals, with an emphasis on the neural control of breathing during hyperoxia, after return to normoxia, and in response to subsequent hypoxic and hypercapnic challenges. Acute hyperoxia typically evokes an immediate ventilatory depression that is often, but not always, followed by hyperpnea. The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) is enhanced by brief periods of hyperoxia in adult mammals, but the limited data available suggest that this may not be the case for newborns. Chronic exposure to mild-to-moderate levels of hyperoxia (e.g., 30-60% O2 for several days to a few weeks) elicits several changes in breathing in nonhuman animals, some of which are unique to perinatal exposures (i.e., developmental plasticity). Examples of this developmental plasticity include hypoventilation after return to normoxia and long-lasting attenuation of the HVR. Although both peripheral and CNS mechanisms are implicated in hyperoxia-induced plasticity, it is particularly clear that perinatal hyperoxia affects carotid body development. Some of these effects may be transient (e.g., decreased O2 sensitivity of carotid body glomus cells) while others may be permanent (e.g., carotid body hypoplasia, loss of chemoafferent neurons). Whether the hyperoxic exposures routinely experienced by human infants in clinical settings are sufficient to alter respiratory control development remains an open question and requires further research. © 2020 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 10:597-636, 2020.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan W Bavis
- Department of Biology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA
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21
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Montagna M, Tong KJ, Magoga G, Strada L, Tintori A, Ho SYW, Lo N. Recalibration of the insect evolutionary time scale using Monte San Giorgio fossils suggests survival of key lineages through the End-Permian Extinction. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191854. [PMID: 31594499 PMCID: PMC6790769 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Insects are a highly diverse group of organisms and constitute more than half of all known animal species. They have evolved an extraordinary range of traits, from flight and complete metamorphosis to complex polyphenisms and advanced eusociality. Although the rich insect fossil record has helped to chart the appearance of many phenotypic innovations, data are scarce for a number of key periods. One such period is that following the End-Permian Extinction, recognized as the most catastrophic of all extinction events. We recently discovered several 240-million-year-old insect fossils in the Mount San Giorgio Lagerstätte (Switzerland-Italy) that are remarkable for their state of preservation (including internal organs and soft tissues), and because they extend the records of their respective taxa by up to 200 million years. By using these fossils as calibrations in a phylogenomic dating analysis, we present a revised time scale for insect evolution. Our date estimates for several major lineages, including the hyperdiverse crown groups of Lepidoptera, Hemiptera: Heteroptera and Diptera, are substantially older than their currently accepted post-Permian origins. We found that major evolutionary innovations, including flight and metamorphosis, appeared considerably earlier than previously thought. These results have numerous implications for understanding the evolution of insects and their resilience in the face of extreme events such as the End-Permian Extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Montagna
- Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - K. Jun Tong
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Sydney, Australia
| | - Giulia Magoga
- Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Laura Strada
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra ‘Ardito Desio’, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Andrea Tintori
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra ‘Ardito Desio’, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Simon Y. W. Ho
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Sydney, Australia
| | - Nathan Lo
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Sydney, Australia
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22
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Liang Y, Xie W, Luan Y. Developmental expression and evolution of hexamerin and haemocyanin from Folsomia candida (Collembola). INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2019; 28:716-727. [PMID: 30953580 PMCID: PMC6850205 DOI: 10.1111/imb.12585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Haemocyanins constitute a group of copper-containing respiratory proteins, and hexamerins were derived from hexapod haemocyanin but lost the ability to transport oxygen and serve as storage proteins. Although hexamerins have been reported in most insect species, none of them has been identified in Collembola, one of the most primitive hexapod lineages, thereby preventing us from exploring relevant evolutionary scenarios regarding the origin and evolution of hexamerins in hexapods. Here we report on collembolan hexamerins for the first time, and investigated the temporal expression profiles of hexamerin and haemocyanin in the collembolan Folsomia candida. Haemocyanin was expressed over the entire life cycle, with higher expression at the embryonic stage than at other stages, whereas hexamerin expression was restricted to embryos, unlike insect hexamerins, which are generally expressed from larval to adult stages. A phylogenetic analysis and molecular clock estimation suggested that all investigated hexapod hexamerins have a single and ancient origin (~423 Ma), coincident with the rise of atmospheric oxygen levels in the Silurian-Devonian period, indicating a physiological link between molecular evolution and Palaeozoic oxygen changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y. Liang
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary BiologyShanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of SciencesShanghaiChina
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of LondonLondonUK
| | - W. Xie
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary BiologyShanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of SciencesShanghaiChina
| | - Y.‐X. Luan
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary BiologyShanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of SciencesShanghaiChina
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied TechnologyInstitute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal UniversityGuangzhouChina
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23
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Prokop J, Krzemińska E, Krzemiński W, Rosová K, Pecharová M, Nel A, Engel MS. Ecomorphological diversification of the Late Palaeozoic Palaeodictyopterida reveals different larval strategies and amphibious lifestyle in adults. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:190460. [PMID: 31598291 PMCID: PMC6774989 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The Late Palaeozoic insect superorder Palaeodictyopterida exhibits a remarkable disparity of larval ecomorphotypes, enabling these animals to occupy diverse ecological niches. The widely accepted hypothesis presumed that their immature stages only occupied terrestrial habitats, although authors more than a century ago hypothesized they had specializations for amphibious or even aquatic life histories. Here, we show that different species had a disparity of semiaquatic or aquatic specializations in larvae and even the supposed retention of abdominal tracheal gills by some adults. While a majority of mature larvae in Palaeodictyoptera lack unambiguous lateral tracheal gills, some recently discovered early instars had terminal appendages with prominent lateral lamellae like in living damselflies, allowing support in locomotion along with respiratory function. These results demonstrate that some species of Palaeodictyopterida had aquatic or semiaquatic larvae during at least a brief period of their post-embryonic development. The retention of functional gills or gill sockets by adults indicates their amphibious lifestyle and habitats tightly connected with a water environment as is analogously known for some modern Ephemeroptera or Plecoptera. Our study refutes an entirely terrestrial lifestyle for all representatives of the early diverging pterygote group of Palaeodictyopterida, a greatly varied and diverse lineage which probably encompassed many different biologies and life histories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Prokop
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-128 00, Praha 2, Czech Republic
| | - Ewa Krzemińska
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
| | - Wiesław Krzemiński
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
| | - Kateřina Rosová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-128 00, Praha 2, Czech Republic
| | - Martina Pecharová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-128 00, Praha 2, Czech Republic
| | - André Nel
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB - UMR 7205 – CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie 75005, Paris, France
| | - Michael S. Engel
- Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
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25
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Structure and evolutionary implications of the earliest (Sinemurian, Early Jurassic) dinosaur eggs and eggshells. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4424. [PMID: 30872623 PMCID: PMC6418122 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40604-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 02/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the fossil record’s most puzzling features is the absence of preserved eggs or eggshell for the first third of the known 315 million year history of amniote evolution. Our meagre understanding of the origin and evolution of calcareous eggshell and amniotic eggs in general, is largely based on Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous fossils. For dinosaurs, the most parsimonious inference yields a thick, hard shelled egg, so richly represented in the Late Cretaceous fossil record. Here, we show that a thin calcareous layer (≤100 µm) with interlocking units of radiating crystals (mammillae) and a thick shell membrane already characterize the oldest known amniote eggs, belonging to three coeval, but widely distributed Early Jurassic basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs. This thin shell layer strongly contrasts with the considerably thicker calcareous shells of Late Jurassic dinosaurs. Phylogenetic analyses and their Sinemurian age indicate that the thin eggshell of basal sauropodomorphs represents a major evolutionary innovation at the base of Dinosauria and that the much thicker eggshell of sauropods, theropods, and ornithischian dinosaurs evolved independently. Advanced mineralization of amniote eggshell (≥150 µm in thickness) in general occurred not earlier than Middle Jurassic and may correspond with a global trend of increase in atmospheric oxygen.
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26
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Labandeira CC. The Fossil Record of Insect Mouthparts: Innovation, Functional Convergence, and Associations with Other Organisms. INSECT MOUTHPARTS 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-29654-4_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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27
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Cannell AER. The engineering of the giant dragonflies of the Permian: revised body mass, power, air supply, thermoregulation and the role of air density. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:221/19/jeb185405. [PMID: 30309956 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.185405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
An engineering examination of allometric and analogical data on the flight of giant Permian insects (Protodonata, Meganeura or griffinflies) indicates that previous estimates of the body mass of these insects are too low and that the largest of these insects (wingspan of 70 cm or more) would have had a mass of 100-150 g, several times greater than previously thought. Here, the power needed to generate lift and fly at the speeds typical of modern large dragonflies is examined together with the metabolic rate and subsequent heat generated by the thoracic muscles. This evaluation agrees with previous work suggesting that the larger specimens would rapidly overheat in the high ambient temperatures assumed in the Permian. Various extant mechanisms of thermoregulation are modelled and quantified, including behaviour, radiation and the constraints on convective respiration and evaporation imposed by air flow through spiracles. However, the effects of these on cooling an overheated insect are found to be limited. Instead, an examination of the heat budget in the flight medium indicates that, at about 1.6 bar (160 kPa), thermoregulation supply enters into equilibrium and, even at high ambient temperatures, overheating can be avoided and enough oxygen sourced. This approach indicates how fossil biology can be used to examine past atmospheres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan E R Cannell
- ISIPU, Rua Major Francisco Hardy 200 Casa 23, Curitiba 81230-164, Brazil
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Abstract
Oxygen is essential for animal life, and while geochemical proxies have been instrumental in determining the broad evolutionary history of oxygen on Earth, much of our insight into Phanerozoic oxygen comes from biogeochemical modelling. The GEOCARBSULF model utilizes carbon and sulphur isotope records to produce the most detailed history of Phanerozoic atmospheric O2 currently available. However, its predictions for the Paleozoic disagree with geochemical proxies, and with non-isotope modelling. Here we show that GEOCARBSULF oversimplifies the geochemistry of sulphur isotope fractionation, returning unrealistic values for the O2 sourced from pyrite burial when oxygen is low. We rebuild the model from first principles, utilizing an improved numerical scheme, the latest carbon isotope data, and we replace the sulphur cycle equations in line with forwards modelling approaches. Our new model, GEOCARBSULFOR, produces a revised, highly-detailed prediction for Phanerozoic O2 that is consistent with available proxy data, and independently supports a Paleozoic Oxygenation Event, which likely contributed to the observed radiation of complex, diverse fauna at this time. The GEOCARBSULF model provides the most detailed reconstructions of Phanerozoic O2, but its predictions are not supported by geochemical data. Here, a GEOCARBSULF model rebuilt from first principles, with the addition of an amended sulphur cycle and the latest isotope records, supports a Paleozoic Oxygenation Event.
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Giordano M, Olivieri C, Ratti S, Norici A, Raven JA, Knoll AH. A tale of two eras: Phytoplankton composition influenced by oceanic paleochemistry. GEOBIOLOGY 2018; 16:498-506. [PMID: 29851212 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 04/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We report the results of simple experiments which support the hypothesis that changes in ocean chemistry beginning in the Mesozoic Era resulted in an increase in the nutritional quality per mole of C and per cell of planktonic algal biomass compared to earlier phytoplankton. We cultured a cyanobacterium, a diatom, a dinoflagellate, and a green alga in media mimicking aspects of the chemistry of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic-Cenozoic oceans. Substantial differences emerged in the quality of algal biomass between the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic-Cenozoic growth regimes; these differences were strongly affected by interspecific interactions (i.e., the co-existence of different species alters responses to the chemistry of the medium). The change was in the direction of a Mesozoic-Cenozoic biomass enriched in protein per mole C, although cells contained less carbon overall. This would lead to a lower C:N ratio. On the assumption that Mesozoic-Cenozoic grazers' assimilation of total C was similar to that of their earlier counterparts, their diet would be stoichiometrically closer to their C:N requirement. This, along with an increase in mean cell size among continental shelf phytoplankton, could have helped to facilitate observed evolutionary changes in the Mesozoic marine fauna. In turn, increased grazing pressure would have operated as a selective force for the radiation of phytoplankton clades better equipped with antigrazing capabilities (sensu lato), as found widely in phytoplankton with biomineralization. Our results emphasize potential links between changing seawater chemistry, increased predation pressure and the rise to ecological dominance of chlorophyll a+c algae in Mesozoic oceans. The experiments also suggest a potential role for ocean chemistry in changes of marine trophic structure from the Palaeozoic to the later Mesozoic Era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Giordano
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
- Institute of Microbiology ASCR, Algatech, Trebon, Czech Republic
- ISMAR-CNR, Venezia, Italy
- Faculty of Sciences, STU-UNIVPM Joint Algal Research Center, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China
| | - Camilla Olivieri
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
| | - Simona Ratti
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
| | - Alessandra Norici
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
| | - John A Raven
- Division of Plant Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee at TJHI, Invergowrie, Dundee, UK
- Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
| | - Andrew H Knoll
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Pass G. Beyond aerodynamics: The critical roles of the circulatory and tracheal systems in maintaining insect wing functionality. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2018; 47:391-407. [PMID: 29859244 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2018] [Revised: 05/19/2018] [Accepted: 05/22/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Insect wings consist almost entirely of lifeless cuticle; yet their veins host a complex multimodal sensory apparatus and other tissues that require a continuous supply of water, nutrients and oxygen. This review provides a survey of the various living components in insect wings, as well as the specific contribution of the circulatory and tracheal systems to provide all essential substances. In most insects, hemolymph circulates through the veinal network in a loop flow caused by the contraction of accessory pulsatile organs in the thorax. In other insects, hemolymph oscillates into and out of the wings due to the complex interaction of several factors, such as heartbeat reversal, intermittent pumping of the accessory pulsatile organs in the thorax, and the elasticity of the wall of a special type of tracheae. A practically unexplored subject is the need for continuous hydration of the wing cuticle to retain its flexibility and toughness, including the associated problem of water loss due to evaporation. Also, widely neglected is the influence of the hemolymph mass and the circulating flow in the veins on the aerodynamic properties of insect wings during flight. Ventilation of the extraordinarily long wing tracheae is probably accomplished by intricate interactions with the circulatory system, and by the exchange of oxygen via cutaneous respiration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Günther Pass
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria.
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