scholarly journals Oceanographic heterogeneity influences an ecological radiation in elasmobranchs

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1599-1611
Author(s):  
Jonathan Sandoval‐Castillo ◽  
Luciano B. Beheregaray
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Radiation

The Currently Earliest Angiosperm Fruit from the Jurassic of North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Wang
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
The North ◽  
Plant Group ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
Origin Of Angiosperms ◽  
Crucial Test

Angiosperms are the single most important plant group in the current ecosystem. However, little is known about the origin and early evolution of angiosperms. Jurassic and earlier traces of angiosperms have been claimed multiple times from Europe and Asia, but reluctance to accept these records remains. To test the truthfulness of these claims, palaeobotanical records from continents other than Europe and Asia constitute a crucial test. Here I document a new angiosperm fruit, Dilcherifructus mexicana gen. et sp. nov, from the Middle Jurassic of Mexico. Its Jurassic age suggests that origin of angiosperms is much earlier than widely accepted, while its occurrence in the North America indicates that angiosperms were already widespread in the Jurassic, although they were still far away from their ecological radiation, which started in the Early Cretaceous.

scholarly journals Leaf evolution in Southern Hemisphere conifers tracks the angiosperm ecological radiation

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1727) ◽  
pp. 341-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Biffin ◽  
Timothy J. Brodribb ◽  
Robert S. Hill ◽  
Philip Thomas ◽  
Andrew J. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Morphology ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
Leaf Evolution ◽  
Climatic Range ◽  
Bayesian Relaxed Clock ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Relaxed Clock ◽  
Lineage Diversification

The angiosperm radiation has been linked to sharp declines in gymnosperm diversity and the virtual elimination of conifers from the tropics. The conifer family Podocarpaceae stands as an exception with highest species diversity in wet equatorial forests. It has been hypothesized that efficient light harvesting by the highly flattened leaves of several podocarp genera facilitates persistence with canopy-forming angiosperms, and the angiosperm ecological radiation may have preferentially favoured the diversification of these lineages. To test these ideas, we develop a molecular phylogeny for Podocarpaceae using Bayesian-relaxed clock methods incorporating fossil time constraints. We find several independent origins of flattened foliage types, and that these lineages have diversified predominantly through the Cenozoic and therefore among canopy-forming angiosperms. The onset of sustained foliage flattening podocarp diversification is coincident with a declining diversification rate of scale/needle-leaved lineages and also with ecological and climatic transformations linked to angiosperm foliar evolution. We demonstrate that climatic range evolution is contingent on the underlying state for leaf morphology. Taken together, our findings imply that as angiosperms came to dominate most terrestrial ecosystems, competitive interactions at the foliar level have profoundly shaped podocarp geography and as a consequence, rates of lineage diversification.

scholarly journals The Phalangopsidae crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea) of the Seychelles Archipelago: Taxonomy of an ecological radiation

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5047 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-246
Author(s):  
SYLVAIN HUGEL ◽  
BEN H. WARREN ◽  
LAURE DESUTTER-GRANDCOLAS
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time

The Phalangopsidae crickets (Grylloidea) of the Seychelles are examined following extensive field sampling on several main islands of the archipelago (Mahé, Silhouette, Praslin, La Digue). Despite the small area of these islands, six genera (12 species) are documented, including one new genus and five new species. The type species of the genus Seychellesia Bolivar, 1912 is transferred to the genus Paragryllodes Karny, 1909 as Paragryllodes nitidula (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb. The other species described in Seychellesia are transferred to the genus Seselia Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen., as Seselia longicercata (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb. and Seselia patellifera (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb. Two new species are also described in the genus Seselia Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen., Seselia coccofessei Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen., n. sp. (type species of the genus) and Seselia matyoti Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen., n. sp. The genera Phaeogryllus Bolivar, 1912 and Phalangacris Bolivar, 1895 are redescribed, including Phalangacris ferlegro Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. and Phalangacris sotsote Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. that are new to science. The genus Gryllapterus Bolivar, 1912 is redescribed and transferred from the Landrevinae (Gryllidae) to the Cachoplistinae (Phalangopsidae). New tribes are defined for the genus Paragryllodes (Paragryllodini Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. tribe) on the one hand, and for Seselia Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen., Phalangacris, Phaeogryllus and Gryllapterus (Seselini Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. tribe) on the other, using morphological characters and the results of molecular phylogenetic studies (Warren et al. 2019). Phaloria (Papuloria) insularis (Bolivar, 1912) (Phaloriinae) is redescribed and restricted to Mahé, and its calling song is documented for the first time, while Phaloria (Papuloria) bolivari Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. is newly described from Silhouette. Identification keys are proposed for the genera of Seselini Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. tribe, and for the species of Seselia Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. gen. and Phalangacris. The confusion between the Mogoplistidae Ornebius succineus Bolivar, 1912 and the Phalangopsidae Heterotrypus succineus Bolivar, 1910 is discussed, and the name Subtiloria succineus (Bolivar, 1912) considered a nomen nudum.  

scholarly journals Non-reef environments impact the diversification of extant jacks, remoras and allies (Carangoidei, Percomorpha)

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1842) ◽  
pp. 20161556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Frédérich ◽  
Giuseppe Marramà ◽  
Giorgio Carnevale ◽  
Francesco Santini
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Benthic Invertebrates ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Promoting Effect ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Reef Environments ◽  
Marine Realm ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
Early Radiation

Various factors may impact the processes of diversification of a clade. In the marine realm, it has been shown that coral reef environments have promoted diversification in various fish groups. With the exception of requiem sharks, all the groups showing a higher level of diversity in reefs than in non-reef habitats have diets based predominantly on plankton, algae or benthic invertebrates. Here we explore the pattern of diversification of carangoid fishes, a clade that includes numerous piscivorous species (e.g. trevallies, jacks and dolphinfishes), using time-calibrated phylogenies as well as ecological and morphological data from both extant and fossil species. The study of carangoid morphospace suggests that reef environments played a role in their early radiation during the Eocene. However, contrary to the hypothesis of a reef-association-promoting effect, we show that habitat shifts to non-reef environments have increased the rates of morphological diversification (i.e. size and body shape) in extant carangoids. Piscivory did not have a major impact on the tempo of diversification of this group. Through the ecological radiation of carangoid fishes, we demonstrate that non-reef environments may sustain and promote processes of diversification of different marine fish groups, at least those including a large proportion of piscivorous species.

Estimating the effects of sampling biases on pterosaur diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement

Paleobiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 432-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Butler ◽  
Paul M. Barrett ◽  
Stephen Nowbath ◽  
Paul Upchurch
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Diversity Patterns ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
Diversity Estimates

Pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates and formed important components of terrestrial and marginal marine ecosystems during the Mesozoic. They became extinct during the latest Cretaceous (latest Maastrichtian), at, or near, the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary, following an apparent decline in diversity in the Late Cretaceous. This reduction in species richness has been linked to the ecological radiation of birds in the Early Cretaceous and the proposal that birds competitively excluded pterosaurs from many key niches. However, although competition is often posited as a causal mechanism for many of the clade-clade replacements observed in the fossil record, these hypotheses are rarely tested. Here we present a detailed examination of pterosaur diversity through time, including both taxic and phylogenetically corrected diversity estimates and comparison of these estimates with a model describing temporal variation in the number of pterosaur-bearing formations (a proxy for rock availability). Both taxic and phylogenetic diversity curves are strongly correlated with numbers of pterosaur-bearing formations, suggesting that a significant part of the signal contained within pterosaur diversity patterns may be controlled by geological and taphonomic megabiases rather than macroevolutionary processes. There is no evidence for a long-term decline in pterosaur diversity through the Cretaceous, although a reduction in morphological, ecological, and phylogenetic diversity does appear to have occurred in the latest Cretaceous. Competitive replacement of pterosaurs by birds is difficult to support on the basis of diversity patterns.

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