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Wilson LN, Gardner JD, Wilson JP, Farnsworth A, Perry ZR, Druckenmiller PS, Erickson GM, Organ CL. Global latitudinal gradients and the evolution of body size in dinosaurs and mammals. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2864. [PMID: 38580657 PMCID: PMC10997647 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46843-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Global climate patterns fundamentally shape the distribution of species and ecosystems. For example, Bergmann's rule predicts that homeothermic animals, including birds and mammals, inhabiting cooler climates are generally larger than close relatives from warmer climates. The modern world, however, lacks the comparative data needed to evaluate such macroecological rules rigorously. Here, we test for Bergmann's rule in Mesozoic dinosaurs and mammaliaforms that radiated within relatively temperate global climate regimes. We develop a phylogenetic model that accounts for biases in the fossil record and allows for variable evolutionary dispersal rates. Our analysis also includes new fossil data from the extreme high-latitude Late Cretaceous Arctic Prince Creek Formation. We find no evidence for Bergmann's rule in Mesozoic dinosaurs or mammaliaforms, the ancestors of extant homeothermic birds and mammals. When our model is applied to thousands of extant dinosaur (bird) and mammal species, we find that body size evolution remains independent of latitude. A modest temperature effect is found in extant, but not in Mesozoic, birds, suggesting that body size evolution in modern birds was influenced by Bergmann's rule during Cenozoic climatic change. Our study provides a general approach for studying macroecological rules, highlighting the fossil record's power to address longstanding ecological principles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren N Wilson
- University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA.
- Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA.
| | - Jacob D Gardner
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6EX, UK.
| | - John P Wilson
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59715, USA
| | - Alex Farnsworth
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL, UK
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Zackary R Perry
- University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
- Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
| | - Patrick S Druckenmiller
- University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
- Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
| | - Gregory M Erickson
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA
| | - Chris L Organ
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6EX, UK.
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59715, USA.
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Peng J, Slater SM, McLoughlin S, Vajda V. New species of Kuqaia from the Lower Jurassic of Sweden indicates a possible water flea (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) affinity. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0282247. [PMID: 37285340 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The enigmatic acid-resistant mesofossil genus Kuqaia is emended, a new species (Kuqaia scanicus) is instituted, and three established species are described from the Lower Jurassic (lower Pliensbachian) of the Kävlinge BH-928 core, in southern Sweden. Kuqaia has a distribution across the middle northern latitudes of Pangaea and is restricted to Lower to lower Middle Jurassic strata. Morphological characters support Kuqaia being the ephippia (resting egg/embryo cases) of Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda), and a probable early stem-group taxon of the Daphnia lineage. The paleoecology of the small planktonic crustaceans indicate purely fresh-water environments, such as lakes or ponds, all occurrences being in continental deposits, and the Kuqaia specimens possibly represent dry-season resting eggs. Chemical analyses of these and similar fossils, and of extant invertebrate eggs and egg cases are recommended to improve resolution of the biological affiliations of such mesofossil groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jungang Peng
- 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, China
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sam M Slater
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Stephen McLoughlin
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Vivi Vajda
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
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Dunne EM, Farnsworth A, Benson RBJ, Godoy PL, Greene SE, Valdes PJ, Lunt DJ, Butler RJ. Climatic controls on the ecological ascendancy of dinosaurs. Curr Biol 2023; 33:206-214.e4. [PMID: 36528026 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The ascendancy of dinosaurs to become dominant components of terrestrial ecosystems was a pivotal event in the history of life, yet the drivers of their early evolution and biodiversity are poorly understood.1,2,3 During their early diversification in the Late Triassic, dinosaurs were initially rare and geographically restricted, only attaining wider distributions and greater abundance following the end-Triassic mass extinction event.4,5,6 This pattern is consistent with an opportunistic expansion model, initiated by the extinction of co-occurring groups such as aetosaurs, rauisuchians, and therapsids.4,7,8 However, this pattern could instead be a response to changes in global climatic distributions through the Triassic to Jurassic transition, especially given the increasing evidence that climate played a key role in constraining Triassic dinosaur distributions.7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 Here, we test this hypothesis and elucidate how climate influenced early dinosaur distribution by quantitatively examining changes in dinosaur and tetrapod "climatic niche space" across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Statistical analyses show that Late Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs occupied a more restricted climatic niche space than other tetrapods and dinosaurs, being excluded from the hottest, low-latitude climate zones. A subsequent, earliest Jurassic expansion of sauropodomorph geographic distribution is linked to the expansion of their preferred climatic conditions. Evolutionary model-fitting analyses provide evidence for an important evolutionary shift from cooler to warmer climatic niches during the origin of Sauropoda. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that global abundance of sauropodomorph dinosaurs was facilitated by climatic change and provide support for the key role of climate in the ascendancy of dinosaurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma M Dunne
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
| | - Alexander Farnsworth
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Rd, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK; State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Roger B J Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Pedro L Godoy
- Department of Biology, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo 14040-901, Brazil; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, 100 Nicolls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Sarah E Greene
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Paul J Valdes
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Rd, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
| | - Daniel J Lunt
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Rd, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
| | - Richard J Butler
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
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