Extrinsic and intrinsic factors impact diversity. On deep-time scales, the extrinsic impact of climate and geology are crucial, but poorly understood. Here, we use the inner ear morphology of ruminant artiodactyls to test for a deep-time correlation between a low adaptive anatomical structure and both extrinsic and intrinsic variables. We apply geometric morphometric analyses in a phylogenetic frame to X-ray computed tomographic data from 191 ruminant species. Contrasting results across ruminant clades show that neutral evolutionary processes over time may strongly influence the evolution of inner ear morphology. Extant, ecologically diversified clades increase their evolutionary rate with decreasing Cenozoic global temperatures. Evolutionary rate peaks with the colonization of new continents. Simultaneously, ecologically restricted clades show declining or unchanged rates. These results suggest that both climate and paleogeography produced heterogeneous environments, which likely facilitated Cervidae and Bovidae diversification and exemplifies the effect of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on evolution in ruminants. External ecological interactions and intrinsic biological parameters affect evolutionary pathways and animal diversity. Here, the authors use ruminant inner ear morphology to investigate patterns of diversity through 33 million years, finding clade-dependent climate and paleogeographic trends.
Animal Complexity | BioNinja
David Ehrenfeld is Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutg...
David Ehrenfeld is Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutg...
Эволюция протомлекопитающих от зверообразных рептилий до первозверей
Humans are part of a family of Apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans) and of the Primate order (shared with tailed monkeys). The Primate order is located under the biological categories Mammalia (furred), Chordata (vertebrated), Animalia (heterotrophic), and Eukarya (multicellular). Evolutionary diversification created the Homo genus, and ultimately the human species.
To understand ecological phenomena, it is necessary to observe their behaviour across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Since this need was first highlighted in the 1980s, technology has opened previously inaccessible scales to observation. To help to determine whether there have been corresponding changes in the scales observed by modern ecologists, we analysed the resolution, extent, interval and duration of observations (excluding experiments) in 348 studies that have been published between 2004 and 2014. We found that observational scales were generally narrow, because ecologists still primarily use conventional field techniques. In the spatial domain, most observations had resolutions ≤1 m2 and extents ≤10,000 ha. In the temporal domain, most observations were either unreplicated or infrequently repeated (>1 month interval) and ≤1 year in duration. Compared with studies conducted before 2004, observational durations and resolutions appear largely unchanged, but intervals have become finer and extents larger. We also found a large gulf between the scales at which phenomena are actually observed and the scales those observations ostensibly represent, raising concerns about observational comprehensiveness. Furthermore, most studies did not clearly report scale, suggesting that it remains a minor concern. Ecologists can better understand the scales represented by observations by incorporating autocorrelation measures, while journals can promote attentiveness to scale by implementing scale-reporting standards. Analysing the spatial and temporal extents of 348 ecological studies published between 2004 and 2014, the authors show that although the average study interval and extent has increased, resolution and duration have remained largely unchanged.
This is a super fun speciation activity that has really helped my students understand the roles of random mutation and geographic isolation.
Most, if not all, organisms possess the ability to alter their phenotype in direct response to changes in their...
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Resumo de Ecologia : Relações Ecológicas
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Stages of feather development
Preimitive Amphioxus retinal structure
I have always been fascinated by nature, evolution, and genetics and currently have a research group at Princeton University in the Department of Ecology and…
This pamphlet would have been handed out to...
