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Guillerme-S35-08-19-Evolution2018.pdf (15.9 MB)

The Rise of the Age of Mammals? Total Evidence tip-dated trees and disparity models to assess the effect of the K-Pg extinction on mammalian evolution

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Version 2 2018-08-19, 08:39
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journal contribution
posted on 2018-08-19, 08:39 authored by Thomas GuillermeThomas Guillerme
Popular science accounts state that after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary 66 million years ago, mammals rapidly diversified to fill newly empty ecological niches.However, evidence for this is mixed.
Paleontological analyses suggest that mammals radiated in response to the K-Pg extinction event, whereas neontological analyses suggest that the mammal radiation began before K-Pg and were not greatly affected by it.
Here we aim to shed new light on this debate by looking at living and fossil taxa simultaneously.

We tested the effect of the K-Pg extinction event on mammalian morphological diversity (disparity) based on a new Total Evidence tip-dated tree.
Using a novel, continuous time-slicing method for measuring changes in disparity-through-time, along with null models of disparity evolution, we found mixed support for a change in disparity after the K-Pg boundary between a gradual and a punctuated model of evolution.

This implies that the extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous had a much more complex effect on mammalian morphological evolution than previously thought.
Our findings contradict the popular theory that the non-avian dinosaurs and other Mesozoic tetrapods were simply restricting mammalian evolution, and that their extinction liberated ecological niches for mammals to fill through evolution.



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