Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Austin H. Patton, Luke J. Harmon, Maria del Rosario Castaneda, Hannah K. Frank, Colin M. Donihue, Anthony Herrel, Jonathan B. Losos
Summary: Research shows that neotropical Anolis lizards, originating in South America, colonized and radiated on Caribbean islands before returning to the mainland for further diversification. When mainland and island evolutionary radiations collide, extensive continental radiations can result from island ancestors, with incumbent and invading mainland clades achieving ecological and morphological disparity in different ways. In interactions between mainland radiation derived from island ancestors and incumbent mainland radiation, the island-derived clade tends to have an advantage.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Michiel Vos, Daniel Padfield, Christopher Quince, Rutger Vos
Summary: Prokaryote diversity is crucial to the biosphere and human health, but has received less attention compared to animals and plants. This article discusses the possibility of adaptive radiation in bacteria and explores how horizontally acquired key innovations can initiate and drive diversification. It also examines the colonization and exploitation of novel adaptive zones, and the evolution of an open pangenome. Horizontal acquisition of key innovations could be an important driver of bacterial diversity and pangenome evolution.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Nathalie Feiner, Illiam S. C. Jackson, Eliane Van der Cruyssen, Tobias Uller
Summary: Evolutionary covariation of limb bones in Anolis lizards differs from ontogenetic growth trajectories, suggesting that adaptations in locomotor specialists are likely independent from early stages of limb development.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Giovanni Laudanno, Bart Haegeman, Daniel L. Rabosky, Rampal S. Etienne
Summary: This article introduces different models and inference methods for phylogenetic trees with varying diversification rates, proposing a new framework for calculating likelihood that has been shown to be more accurate through simulations. The corrected likelihood can also be applied to models with multiple rate shifts, resolving the recent debate on unobserved shifts in diversification rates.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jamie B. Thompson, Katie E. Davis, Harry O. Dodd, Matthew A. Wills, Nicholas K. Priest
Summary: Although climate change affects diversification, its effects are inconsistent and less widespread than localized climate or species accumulation. This study focuses on highly speciose orchid subfamily and reveals that historic global cooling, not time or other climate factors, drives speciation in terrestrial orchids. With extensive data and analysis, the study demonstrates that global cooling played a significant role in contemporaneous diversification in all major orchid bioregions. This research provides valuable insights into the long-term impacts of global climate change on biodiversity.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Belinda Kahnt, Panagiotis Theodorou, Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth, Renske E. Onstein
Summary: Pollination and seed dispersal by animals are crucial for plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. This study examines the evolution of mutualistic behaviors in lizards, revealing the repeated evolution of flower visitation and seed dispersal in these species. The findings suggest a potential evolutionary mechanism behind the emergence of double mutualisms, with seed dispersal activity pre-dating flower visitation.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bjorn T. Kopperud, Andrew F. Magee, Sebastian Hohna
Summary: This study examines the congruence class in phylogenies of exclusively extant taxa and concludes that strong directional trends in speciation and extinction rates are robustly inferred, while estimates of constant rates or gentle slopes are not reliable. The valid space for speciation rates is narrower and more constrained compared to extinction rates, providing further evidence that speciation rates can be estimated more accurately than extinction rates.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicholas M. A. Crouch, Joseph A. Tobias
Summary: Episodic pulses of morphological diversification are a prominent feature of evolutionary history. By analyzing global phylogenetic and morphological data for birds, we found that these pulses tend to occur independently and are associated with habitat niche stability. Our results highlight the potential of functional trait data sets in refining macroevolutionary models.
Article
Ecology
P. Catalina Chaparro-Pedraza, Gregory Roth, Ole Seehausen
Summary: Adaptive radiations involve rapid niche diversification in response to ecological opportunity. The emergence of intraclade consumers in these radiations can halt the diversification of other ecomorphs and result in lower species richness in highly productive environments.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chase Doran Brownstein
Summary: During the Cretaceous period, terrestrial vertebrates experienced diversifications and turnovers due to global geographical change, although the poor fossil record from the early Late Cretaceous has concealed how dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates responded to these events. This study describes two dinosaurs from the North American paleolandmass Appalachia, shedding light on the timing of important anatomical innovations in two widespread dinosaur lineages. The phylogenetic positions of the dinosaurs show similarities between Appalachian and Eurasian dinosaur faunas, indicating a degree of endemism in Appalachian dinosaur assemblages due to episodes of vicariance.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Manon Bucher, Fabien L. Condamine, Yang Luo, Menglin Wang, Thierry Bourgoin
Summary: This study provides a phylogenetic and dating analysis of Fulgoromorpha, covering 531 taxa and representing 80% of the currently described diversity in this group. The results reveal the unexpected paraphyly of Delphacidae, the sister relationship of Meenoplidae-Kinnaridae with other Fulgoroidea families, and the early branching node of Tettigometridae. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of high-quality molecular sequences and large sampling in analyzing the phylogeny of this group.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Stilianos Louca, L. Francisco Henao-Diaz, Matt Pennell
Summary: Numerous phylogenetic studies have reported the existence of a pervasive scaling relationship between the ages of extant eukaryotic clades and their estimated diversification rates, known as age-rate-scaling (ARS). This study explores the potential causes of ARS, including parameter non-identifiability, model inadequacy, biases in taxonomic practice, and sampling bias. The authors find that only sampling biases are likely to contribute to the observed ARS and develop methods to correct for this bias. They also confirm through simulations that sampling biases favoring higher diversification rates may explain the residual ARS. Overall, sampling biases appear to be a parsimonious and plausible explanation for the widely observed pattern of ARS.
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Camilo Cortes-Parra, Martha L. Calderon-Espinosa, Adriana Jerez
Summary: The study demonstrates that Anolis lizards have evolved different morphologies in response to selective factors related to microhabitat use. The mainland and island Anolis show convergent and unique regional evolution, with claws and toepads functional traits possibly influenced by microhabitat differences.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
C. A. Sidor, J. A. Mcintosh, B. M. Gee, W. R. Hammer, P. J. Makovicky, N. D. Smith, R. M. H. Smith, N. J. Tabor, M. R. Whitney, C. H. Woolley
Summary: The Permian-Triassic rocks in the Transantarctic Basin offer a valuable record of high latitude paleoenvironments and terrestrial vertebrate faunas. This study summarizes the taxonomic and paleoecological implications of collected vertebrate fossils and presents new geological observations. The results reveal the similarities and differences between the Fremouw Formation and the Karoo Basin, as well as provide insights into the depositional environments and diagenetic alterations of these formations.
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Tom Carruthers, Robert W. Scotland
Summary: Research using simulation and analysis has found that when substitution rates, speciation rates, and extinction rates vary, the benefits of increased character and taxon sampling on parameter estimation accuracy are limited. Methodological assumptions are more likely to be violated, and limitations in the information content of the data become more important in complex cases.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ricardo Araujo, Romain David, Julien Benoit, Lungmus Jacqueline, Fred Spoor, Alexander Stoessel, Paul Barrett, Jessica Maisano, Eric Ekdale, Maeva Orliac, Zhe-Xi Luo, Agustin Martinelli, Eva Hoffman, Christian Sidor, Rui Martins, Kenneth Angielczyk
Summary: Research on the morphology of the inner ear's semicircular ducts suggests that endothermy evolved abruptly during the Late Triassic period, correlated with a sharp increase in body temperature and an expansion of aerobic and anaerobic capacities.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Davide Foffa, Emma M. Dunne, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Richard J. Butler, Nicholas C. Fraser, Stephen L. Brusatte, Alexander Farnsworth, Daniel J. Lunt, Paul J. Valdes, Stig Walsh, Paul M. Barrett
Summary: The early Late Triassic reptile Scleromochlus taylori was hypothesized to be closely related to pterosaurs, but its poor preservation has led to controversy over its identification. This study uses microcomputed tomographic scans to accurately reconstruct Scleromochlus and identify it as a close relative of pterosaurs within Pterosauromorpha.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
David J. Button, Laura B. Porro, Stephan Lautenschlager, Marc E. H. Jones, Paul M. Barrett
Summary: The extent to which evolution is deterministic is a topic of debate in biology. Fossil records provide crucial information for this debate, but data for extinct taxa are limited. By analyzing the skulls of early-diverging ornithischian dinosaurs, researchers discovered that different adaptations of the feeding apparatus led to similar performance levels, demonstrating that phenotypic evolution is not necessarily predictable.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Amy M. Waterson, Daniela N. Schmidt, Paul J. Valdes, Chris Yesson, Patricia A. Holroyd, Margaret E. Collinson, Alexander Farnsworth, David B. Nicholson, Sara Varela, Paul M. Barrett
Summary: The study shows that terrestrial and fresh-water turtles experienced latitudinal range contraction in response to major climatic changes from the Late Cretaceous to the Paleogene. By using ecological niche modeling and climate models, the researchers reconstructed turtle niches and predicted their range shifts in different climate scenarios. The findings suggest that turtle ranges are predicted to expand poleward in the Northern Hemisphere, with decreased habitat suitability at lower latitudes.
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ricardo Araujo, Romain David, Julien Benoit, Jacqueline K. Lungmus, Alexander Stoessel, Paul M. Barrett, Jessica A. Maisano, Eric Ekdale, Maeva Orliac, Zhe-Xi Luo, Agustin G. Martinelli, Eva A. Hoffman, Christian A. Sidor, Rui M. S. Martins, Fred Spoor, Kenneth D. Angielczyk
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Devin K. Hoffman, John P. Hancox, Sterling J. Nesbitt
Summary: Mass extinctions change the trajectory of evolution and restructure ecosystems. The end-Permian mass extinction is of particular interest due to the delayed recovery of global ecosystems. Diapsids, especially archosauromorphs, play a crucial role in this recovery, filling vacant niches. However, the lack of well-dated stratigraphic sections at the Permian-Triassic boundary limits our understanding of diapsid lineage and ecological diversification. The Driefontein locality in the Karoo Basin of South Africa provides valuable insight into the diapsid fossil record during the Early Triassic, with the discovery of new tooth morphotypes. The morphological analysis suggests faunivorous diets for most morphotypes, indicating previously unsampled taxonomic and ecological diversity in diapsids during this period.
Article
Paleontology
Simon Wills, Charlie J. Underwood, Paul M. Barrett
Summary: By applying machine learning models and morphological comparisons, researchers have confidently assigned several isolated theropod teeth from Bathonian microvertebrate sites in the UK to Maniraptora. This discovery expands the temporal range of Therizinosauroidea and Troodontidae and suggests that diverse maniraptorans already existed in the Middle Jurassic, pre-dating the break-up of Pangaea. This study highlights the significance of machine learning in taxonomic identifications and emphasizes the importance of microvertebrate sites in faunal and evolutionary analyses.
PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jennifer Botha, Bailey M. Weiss, Kathleen Dollman, Paul M. Barrett, Roger B. J. Benson
Summary: Crocodilians evolved from early pseudosuchians with faster growth rates, but developed slow growth rates during the Late Triassic. This transition to slow growth occurred around the origin of Crocodylomorpha. The presence of different bone tissue types in fossil specimens supports this finding.
Meeting Abstract
Anatomy & Morphology
Simon Wills, Aaron J. Cavosie, Vincent Fernandez, Charlie J. Underwood, David J. Ward, Emma L. Bernard, Paul M. Barrett
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Anatomy & Morphology
Andrew B. Heckert, Joel P. Crothers, Luke J. Rose, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Isaac Pugh, Michelle R. Stocker, Paul M. Barrett, Simon Wills, David Ward, Bruce Lauer, Rene Lauer
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Anatomy & Morphology
Paul M. Barrett, Lara Sciscio, Michel Zondo, Timothy J. Broderick, Darlington Munyikwa, Pia A. Viglietti, Steve F. Edwards, Kimberley E. J. Chapelle, Kathleen N. Dollman, Jonah N. Choiniere
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Anatomy & Morphology
Jonah N. Choiniere, Roger B. J. Benson, Kathleen Dollman, Kimberley E. J. Chapelle, Celina A. Suarez, Glenn R. Sharman, Emese M. Bordy, Jennifer Botha, Bailey M. Weiss, Paul M. Barrett
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Thomas J. Raven, Paul M. Barrett, Chris B. Joyce, Susannah C. R. Maidment
Summary: The armoured dinosaurs, called Thyreophora, were an important part of the Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. Their fossils have been found on all continents, including Antarctica. However, due to a patchy fossil record and modified anatomy, the evolutionary history of these dinosaurs has been difficult to reconstruct. A recent study using a new phylogenetic dataset reveals a novel hypothesis for their relationships.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Andrew J. Moore, Paul M. Barrett, Paul Upchurch, Chun-Chi Liao, Yong Ye, Baoqiao Hao, Xing Xu
Summary: This study re-describes and reevaluates the taxonomic status of the sauropod genus Mamenchisaurus, finding that it is not monophyletic and requiring further revision. It also identifies Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum as a particularly long-necked sauropod with extensive vertebral pneumatization, and proposes that the elongated cervical ribs played a role in stabilizing the neck and promoting neck elongation by creating a predictable biomechanical environment for increased pneumatization.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ricardo Araujo, Romain David, Julien Benoit, Jacqueline K. Lungmus, Alexander Stoessel, Paul M. Barrett, Jessica A. Maisano, Eric Ekdale, Maeva Orliac, Zhe-Xi Luo, Agustin G. Martinelli, Eva A. Hoffman, Christian A. Sidor, Rui M. S. Martins, Fred Spoor, Kenneth D. Angielczyk