Topic
Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution
About: Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3216 citations.
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University of California, Riverside1, Texas A&M University2, University College Dublin3, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul4, University of California, Berkeley5, Pepperdine University6, American Museum of Natural History7, Stellenbosch University8, Chaffey College9, La Trobe University10, Washington and Lee University11
TL;DR: Molecular phylogenetic analysis, calibrated with fossils, resolves the time frame of the mammalian radiation and diversification analyses suggest important roles for the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and KPg mass extinction in opening up ecospace that promoted interordinal and intraordinal diversification, respectively.
Abstract: Previous analyses of relations, divergence times, and diversification patterns among extant mammalian families have relied on supertree methods and local molecular clocks. We constructed a molecular supermatrix for mammalian families and analyzed these data with likelihood-based methods and relaxed molecular clocks. Phylogenetic analyses resulted in a robust phylogeny with better resolution than phylogenies from supertree methods. Relaxed clock analyses support the long-fuse model of diversification and highlight the importance of including multiple fossil calibrations that are spread across the tree. Molecular time trees and diversification analyses suggest important roles for the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) mass extinction in opening up ecospace that promoted interordinal and intraordinal diversification, respectively. By contrast, diversification analyses provide no support for the hypothesis concerning the delayed rise of present-day mammals during the Eocene Period.
1,284 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that polypod ferns (> 80% of living fern species) diversified in the Cretaceous, after angiosperms, suggesting perhaps an ecological opportunistic response to the diversification of angios perms, as angiosPerms came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.
Abstract: The rise of angiosperms during the Cretaceous period is often portrayed as coincident with a dramatic drop in the diversity and abundance of many seed-free vascular plant lineages, including ferns. This has led to the widespread belief that ferns, once a principal component of terrestrial ecosystems, succumbed to the ecological predominance of angiosperms and are mostly evolutionary holdovers from the late Palaeozoic/early Mesozoic era. The first appearance of many modern fern genera in the early Tertiary fossil record implies another evolutionary scenario; that is, that the majority of living ferns resulted from a more recent diversification. But a full understanding of trends in fern diversification and evolution using only palaeobotanical evidence is hindered by the poor taxonomic resolution of the fern fossil record in the Cretaceous. Here we report divergence time estimates for ferns and angiosperms based on molecular data, with constraints from a reassessment of the fossil record. We show that polypod ferns (> 80% of living fern species) diversified in the Cretaceous, after angiosperms, suggesting perhaps an ecological opportunistic response to the diversification of angiosperms, as angiosperms came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.
743 citations
Harvard University1, University of Memphis2, University of Arizona3, University of Texas at Austin4, Oregon State University5, California Department of Food and Agriculture6, University of Jena7, Clemson University8, University of California, Riverside9, Montana State University10, Wichita State University11, Landcare Research12, National University of La Plata13, University of Georgia14, Field Museum of Natural History15, Brigham Young University16, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation17
TL;DR: A phylogeny of beetles based on DNA sequence data from eight nuclear genes, including six single‐copy nuclear protein‐coding genes, for 367 species representing 172 of 183 extant families provides a uniquely well‐resolved temporal and phylogenetic framework for studying patterns of innovation and diversification in Coleoptera.
Abstract: © 2015 The Authors. Systematic Entomology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionߚNonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
419 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that dinosaurs did not experience a progressive decline at the end of the Cretaceous, nor was their evolution driven directly by the KTR, and major diversification shifts occurred largely in the first one-third of the group's history.
Abstract: The observed diversity of dinosaurs reached its highest peak during the mid- and Late Cretaceous, the 50 Myr that preceded their extinction, and yet this explosion of dinosaur diversity may be explained largely by sampling bias. It has long been debated whether dinosaurs were part of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (KTR), from 125–80 Myr ago, when flowering plants, herbivorous and social insects, squamates, birds and mammals all underwent a rapid expansion. Although an apparent explosion of dinosaur diversity occurred in the mid-Cretaceous, coinciding with the emergence of new groups (e.g. neoceratopsians, ankylosaurid ankylosaurs, hadrosaurids and pachycephalosaurs), results from the first quantitative study of diversification applied to a new supertree of dinosaurs show that this apparent burst in dinosaurian diversity in the last 18 Myr of the Cretaceous is a sampling artefact. Indeed, major diversification shifts occurred largely in the first one-third of the group's history. Despite the appearance of new clades of medium to large herbivores and carnivores later in dinosaur history, these new originations do not correspond to significant diversification shifts. Instead, the overall geometry of the Cretaceous part of the dinosaur tree does not depart from the null hypothesis of an equal rates model of lineage branching. Furthermore, we conclude that dinosaurs did not experience a progressive decline at the end of the Cretaceous, nor was their evolution driven directly by the KTR.
302 citations
TL;DR: A Bayesian molecular dating method is used to analyse a dataset of 83 genes from 644 taxa and 52 fossil calibrations to explore the effect of different interpretations of the fossil record, molecular clock models, data partitioning, among other factors, on angiosperm divergence time estimation, and indicates that the timescale of angiosperms diversification is much less certain than previous molecular dating studies have suggested.
Abstract: Through the lens of the fossil record, angiosperm diversification precipitated a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (KTR) in which pollinators, herbivores and predators underwent explosive co‐diversification. Molecular dating studies imply that early angiosperm evolution is not documented in the fossil record. This mismatch remains controversial. / We used a Bayesian molecular dating method to analyse a dataset of 83 genes from 644 taxa and 52 fossil calibrations to explore the effect of different interpretations of the fossil record, molecular clock models, data partitioning, among other factors, on angiosperm divergence time estimation. / Controlling for different sources of uncertainty indicates that the timescale of angiosperm diversification is much less certain than previous molecular dating studies have suggested. Discord between molecular clock and purely fossil‐based interpretations of angiosperm diversification may be a consequence of false precision on both sides. / We reject a post‐Jurassic origin of angiosperms, supporting the notion of a cryptic early history of angiosperms, but this history may be as much as 121 Myr, or as little as 23 Myr. These conclusions remain compatible with palaeobotanical evidence and a more general KTR in which major groups of angiosperms diverged later within the Cretaceous, alongside the diversification of pollinators, herbivores and their predators.
141 citations