scholarly journals How macroecology affects macroevolution: the interplay between extinction intensity and trait-dependent extinction in brachiopods

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Smits
Keyword(s):  
Species Turnover ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Strength Increase ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Environmental Preference ◽  
Selection Strength ◽  
Intermediate Preferences ◽  
Average Fitness ◽  
Over Time

AbstractSelection is the force behind differences in fitness, with extinction being the most extreme example of selection. Modern experiments and observations have shown that average fitness and selection strength can vary over time and space. This begs the question: as average fitness increases, does selection strength increase or decrease? The fossil record illustrates how extinction rates have varied through time, with periods of both rapid and slow species turnover. Using Paleozoic brachiopods as a study system, I developed a model to understand how the average taxon duration (i.e. fitness) varies over time, to estimate trait-based differences in taxon durations (i.e. selection), and to measure the amount of correlation between taxon fitness and selection. I find evidence for when extinction intensity increases, selection strength on geographic range also increases. I also find strong evidence for a non-linear relationship between environmental preference for epicontinental versus open-ocean environments and expected taxon duration, where taxa with intermediate preferences are expected to have greater durations than environmental specialists. Finally, I find that taxa which appear more frequently in epicontinental environments will have a greater expected duration than those taxa which prefer open-ocean environments. My analysis supports the conclusions that as extinction intensity increases and average fitness decreases, as happens during a mass extinction, the trait-associated differences in fitness would increase. In contrast, during periods of low extinction intensity when fitness is greater than average, my model predicts that selection associated with geographic range and environmental preference would decrease and be less than average.

How does species richness accumulate over time?

2019 ◽  
pp. 189-212
Author(s):  
Timothy G. Barraclough
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Diversity Patterns ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Neutral Theory Of Biodiversity ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Long Timescales ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Structure Diversity

Species are units for understanding the evolution of diversity over large geographical scales and long timescales. This chapter investigates the processes causing proliferation and demise of species diversity within lineages and regions. Phylogenetic approaches have focused on documenting speciation and extinction rates, but mechanistic theory explaining variation in rates is scarce. Diversity patterns are better explained by geographical and ecological opportunity than by correlates of speciation and extinction rates per se. The neutral theory of biodiversity provides a framework that can be adapted to predict diversity patterns in terms of limits due to competition for space and resources, and species turnover (which cannot be detected directly from phylogenetic trees). These theories bring macroevolutionary and microevolutionary theories closer together. In particular, diversity patterns are the outcome of individual selection and dispersal playing out over long timescales. Some of the processes influencing species patterns can also structure diversity at higher taxonomic levels.

Community characteristics of forest understory birds along an elevational gradient in the Horn of Africa: A multi-year baseline

The Condor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle D Kittelberger ◽  
Montague H C Neate-Clegg ◽  
Evan R Buechley ◽  
Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Bird Abundance ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Demographic Rates ◽  
Understory Birds ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Tropical mountains are global hotspots for birdlife. However, there is a dearth of baseline avifaunal data along elevational gradients, particularly in Africa, limiting our ability to observe and assess changes over time in tropical montane avian communities. In this study, we undertook a multi-year assessment of understory birds along a 1,750 m elevational gradient (1,430–3,186 m) in an Afrotropical moist evergreen montane forest within Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains. Analyzing 6 years of systematic bird-banding data from 5 sites, we describe the patterns of species richness, abundance, community composition, and demographic rates over space and time. We found bimodal patterns in observed and estimated species richness across the elevational gradient (peaking at 1,430 and 2,388 m), although no sites reached asymptotic species richness throughout the study. Species turnover was high across the gradient, though forested sites at mid-elevations resembled each other in species composition. We found significant variation across sites in bird abundance in some of the dietary and habitat guilds. However, we did not find any significant trends in species richness or guild abundances over time. For the majority of analyzed species, capture rates did not change over time and there were no changes in species’ mean elevations. Population growth rates, recruitment rates, and apparent survival rates averaged 1.02, 0.52, and 0.51 respectively, and there were no elevational patterns in demographic rates. This study establishes a multi-year baseline for Afrotropical birds along an elevational gradient in an under-studied international biodiversity hotspot. These data will be critical in assessing the long-term responses of tropical montane birdlife to climate change and habitat degradation.

scholarly journals Geographic contingency, not species sorting, dominates macroevolutionary dynamics in an extinct clade of neogastropods (Volutospina; Volutidae)

Paleobiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Dana S. Friend ◽  
Brendan M. Anderson ◽  
Warren D. Allmon
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Species Sorting ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Planktotrophic Larvae

Abstract Rates of speciation and extinction are often linked to many ecological factors, traits (emergent and nonemergent) such as environmental tolerance, body size, feeding type, and geographic range. Marine gastropods in particular have been used to examine the role of larval dispersal in speciation. However, relatively few studies have been conducted placing larval modes in species-level phylogenetic context. Those that have, have not incorporated fossil data, while landmark macroevolutionary studies on fossil clades have not considered both phylogenetic context and net speciation (speciation–extinction) rates. This study utilizes Eocene volutid Volutospina species from the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain and the Hampshire Basin, U.K., to explore the relationships among larval mode, geographic range, and duration. Based on the phylogeny of these Volutospina, we calculated speciation and extinction rates in order to compare the macroevolutionary effects of larval mode. Species with planktotrophic larvae had a median duration of 9.7 Myr, which compared significantly to 4.7 Myr for those with non-planktotrophic larvae. Larval mode did not significantly factor into geographic-range size, but U.S. and U.K. species do differ, indicating a locality-specific component to maximum geographic-range size. Non-planktotrophs (NPTs)were absent among the Volutospina species during the Paleocene–early Eocene. The relative proportions of NPTs increased in the early middle Eocene, and the late Eocene was characterized by disappearance of planktotrophs (PTs). The pattern of observed lineage diversity shows an increasing preponderance of NPTs; however, this is clearly driven by a dramatic extinction of PTs, rather than higher NPT speciation rates during the late Eocene. This study adds nuance to paleontology's understanding of the macroevolutionary consequences of larval mode.

Adaptation and Natural Selection

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-154
Author(s):  
Áki J. Láruson ◽  
Floyd A. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Allele Frequency ◽  
Levels Of Selection ◽  
Frequency Data ◽  
Selection Coefficient ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Single Allele ◽  
Selection Strength ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Over Time

Here non-random shifts in allele frequencies over time are introduced, as well as how to incorporate varying levels of selection into a model of a single population through time. This chapter highlights the difference between weak and strong selection, the dynamics of single allele versus genotype-level selection, and how selection strength and population size affect allele frequency distributions over time. Finally the inference of the selection coefficient from allele frequency data is discussed, alongside the concepts of overdominance and underdominance.

Using a New Dispersed Oil Model to Support Ecological Risk Assessment

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (1) ◽  
pp. 523-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Mearns ◽  
Glen Watabayashi ◽  
Caitlin O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Ecological Risk ◽  
Ecological Risk Assessment ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ocean Water ◽  
Moderate Risk ◽  
Dispersed Oil ◽  
Oil Concentration ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACT A new model is being used to support dispersant Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) workshops. User-driven output includes trajectory maps for both chemically dispersed and undispersed oil, and concentration isopleths reported by depth and over time. To help make toxicological sense of the output, oil concentration isopleths were nominally fixed at concentrations and exposure times of concern developed by consensus during past ERA workshops. Two No. 6 fuel spill scenarios, each with alternative outcomes (not dispersed vs 80% dispersed) were developed, one in open ocean water (10,000 bbls spill), and the other in an estuary (2000 bbls spill). Plume epicenter maximum dispersed oil concentrations peaked in the range of 10–20 ppm but decreased within 24 hours to 1–2 ppm or less. Average concentrations in the most contaminated portions of the dispersion area never exceeded 3 ppm in either scenario. Plankton in a small (< 25%) fraction of the open ocean plume were at moderate risk at 24 hours. These effects must be compared to those of the non-dispersion alternative, which could impact wildlife and shorelines.

scholarly journals Southern Ocean phytoplankton turnover in response to stepwise Antarctic cooling over the past 15 million years

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (25) ◽  
pp. 6868-6873 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Crampton ◽  
Rosie D. Cody ◽  
Richard Levy ◽  
David Harwood ◽  
Robert McKay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Polar Front ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities ◽  
Global Extinction

It is not clear how Southern Ocean phytoplankton communities, which form the base of the marine food web and are a crucial element of the carbon cycle, respond to major environmental disturbance. Here, we use a new model ensemble reconstruction of diatom speciation and extinction rates to examine phytoplankton response to climate change in the southern high latitudes over the past 15 My. We identify five major episodes of species turnover (origination rate plus extinction rate) that were coincident with times of cooling in southern high-latitude climate, Antarctic ice sheet growth across the continental shelves, and associated seasonal sea-ice expansion across the Southern Ocean. We infer that past plankton turnover occurred when a warmer-than-present climate was terminated by a major period of glaciation that resulted in loss of open-ocean habitat south of the polar front, driving non-ice adapted diatoms to regional or global extinction. These findings suggest, therefore, that Southern Ocean phytoplankton communities tolerate “baseline” variability on glacial–interglacial timescales but are sensitive to large-scale changes in mean climate state driven by a combination of long-period variations in orbital forcing and atmospheric carbon dioxide perturbations.

scholarly journals Prior hypotheses or regularization allow inference of diversification histories from extant timetrees

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Morlon ◽  
Florian Hartig ◽  
Stéphane Robin
Keyword(s):  
Model Selection ◽  
Infinite Number ◽  
Selection Procedure ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Model Selection Procedure ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPhylogenies of extant species are widely used to study past diversification dynamics1. The most common approach is to formulate a set of candidate models representing evolutionary hypotheses for how and why speciation and extinction rates in a clade changed over time, and compare those models through their probability to have generated the corresponding empirical tree. Recently, Louca & Pennell2 reported the existence of an infinite number of ‘congruent’ models with potentially markedly different diversification dynamics, but equal likelihood, for any empirical tree (see also Lambert & Stadler3). Here we explore the implications of these results, and conclude that they neither undermine the hypothesis-driven model selection procedure widely used in the field nor show that speciation and extinction dynamics cannot be investigated from extant timetrees using a data-driven procedure.

Habitat breadth and geographic range predict diversity dynamics in marine Mesozoic bivalves

Paleobiology ◽  
10.1666/12047 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Nürnberg ◽  
Martin Aberhan
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Independent Effect ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Habitat Breadth ◽  
Diversity Dynamics

Numerous environmental and intrinsic biotic factors have been sought to explain patterns in diversity and turnover. Using taxonomically vetted and sampling-standardized data sets of more than 50,000 taxonomic occurrences in the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB) we tested whether habitat breadth predicts genus durations and diversity dynamics of marine Mesozoic bivalves, and whether this effect is independent of the well-known positive relationship between geographic range and longevity. We defined the habitat breadth of a genus as a function of its realized ranges in water depth, substrate type, and grain size of the substrate. Our analysis showed that mean values of extinction and origination rates are significantly higher for narrowly adapted genera compared to broadly adapted genera, with differences being evident in all analyzed stratigraphic intervals. Linear models showed that both geographic range and habitat breadth have an independent effect on genus durations and on diversity dynamics. These results reaffirm the role of geographic range and furthermore suggest that habitat breadth is an equally important key predictor of extinction risk and origination probability in Mesozoic marine bivalves. Habitat generalists, regardless of their geographic range, are generally less prone to extinction. Conversely, widely distributed genera that are more specialized may be more endangered than one would expect from their geographic range alone. Extinction rates tend to be higher for specialized genera in both background and mass extinctions, suggesting that wide habitat breadth universally buffers against extinction. The trajectories of origination rates through time differ from those of extinction rates. Whereas there is no pronounced ecological selectivity in origination in the Triassic and most of the Jurassic, Cretaceous origination rates are higher for specialized genera. This may best be explained by diversity-dependence. When diversity levels reach a critical point a further increase in diversity is achieved by elevated origination rates of more specialized forms.

scholarly journals The effects of taxonomic standardization on sampling-standardized estimates of historical diversity

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1608) ◽  
pp. 439-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J Wagner ◽  
Martin Aberhan ◽  
Austin Hendy ◽  
Wolfgang Kiessling
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Raw Data ◽  
Diversity Patterns ◽  
Genus Level ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Diversity Studies ◽  
Diversity Dynamics ◽  
Over Time

Occurrence-based databases such as the Palaeobiology database (PBDB) provide means of accommodating the heterogeneities of the fossil record when evaluating historical diversity patterns. Although palaeontologists have given ample attention to the effects of taxonomic practice on diversity patterns derived from synoptic databases (those using first and last appearances of taxa), workers have not examined the effects of taxonomic error on occurrence-based diversity studies. Here, we contrast diversity patterns and diversity dynamics between raw data and taxonomically vetted data in the PBDB to evaluate the effects of taxonomic errors. We examine three groups: Palaeozoic gastropods, Jurassic bivalves and Cenozoic bivalves. We contrast genus-level diversity patterns based on: (i) all occurrences assigned to a genus (i.e. both species records and records identifying only the genus), (ii) only occurrences for which a species is identified, and (iii) only occurrences for which a species is identified, but after vetting the genus to which the species is assigned. Extensive generic reassignments elevate origination and extinction rates within Palaeozoic gastropods and origination rates within Cenozoic bivalves. However, vetting increases generic richness markedly only for Cenozoic bivalves, and even then the increase is less than 10%. Moreover, the patterns of standing generic richness are highly similar under all three data treatments. Unless our results are unusual, taxonomic standardization can elevate diversity dynamics in some cases, but it will not greatly change inferred richness over time.

Phylogenetic heritability of geographic range size in haematophagous ectoparasites: time of divergence and variation among continents

Parasitology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 145 (12) ◽  
pp. 1623-1632
Author(s):  
Boris R. Krasnov ◽  
Georgy I. Shenbrot ◽  
Luther van der Mescht ◽  
Elizabeth M. Warburton ◽  
Irina S. Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Time Of Divergence ◽  
Over Time

AbstractTo understand existence, patterns and mechanisms behind phylogenetic heritability in the geographic range size (GRS) of parasites, we measured phylogenetic signal (PS) in the sizes of both regional (within a region) and continental (within a continent) geographic ranges of fleas in five regions. We asked whether (a) GRS is phylogenetically heritable and (b) the manifestation of PS varies between regions. We also asked whether geographic variation in PS reflects the effects of the environment's spatiotemporal stability (e.g. glaciation disrupting geographic ranges) or is associated with time since divergence (accumulation differences among species over time). Support for the former hypothesis would be indicated by stronger PS in southern than in northern regions, whereas support for the latter hypothesis would be shown by stronger PS in regions with a large proportion of species belonging to the derived lineages than in regions with a large proportion of species belonging to the basal lineages. We detected significant PS in both regional and continental GRSs of fleas from Canada and in continental GRS of fleas from Mongolia. No PS was found in the GRS of fleas from Australia and Southern Africa. Venezuelan fleas demonstrated significant PS in regional GRS only. Local Indicators of Phylogenetic Association detected significant local positive autocorrelations of GRS in some clades even in regions in which PS has not been detected across the entire phylogeny. This was mainly characteristic of younger taxa.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document