| No evidence for directional evolution of body mass in herbivorous theropod dinosaurs. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 23193135 Owner: NLM Status: In-Data-Review |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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The correlation between large body size and digestive efficiency has been hypothesized to have driven trends of increasing mass in herbivorous clades by means of directional selection. Yet, to date, few studies have investigated this relationship from a phylogenetic perspective, and none, to our knowledge, with regard to trophic shifts. Here, we reconstruct body mass in the three major subclades of non-avian theropod dinosaurs whose ecomorphology is correlated with extrinsic evidence of at least facultative herbivory in the fossil record-all of which also achieve relative gigantism (more than 3000 kg). Ordinary least-squares regressions on natural log-transformed mean mass recover significant correlations between increasing mass and geological time. However, tests for directional evolution in body mass find no support for a phylogenetic trend, instead favouring passive models of trait evolution. Cross-correlation of sympatric taxa from five localities in Asia reveals that environmental influences such as differential habitat sampling and/or taphonomic filtering affect the preserved record of dinosaurian body mass in the Cretaceous. Our results are congruent with studies documenting that behavioural and/or ecological factors may mitigate the benefit of increasing mass in extant taxa, and suggest that the hypothesis can be extrapolated to herbivorous lineages across geological time scales. |
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Authors:
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Lindsay E Zanno; Peter J Makovicky |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society Volume: 280 ISSN: 1471-2954 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Biol. Sci. Publication Date: 2013 Jan |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2012-11-29 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 101245157 Medline TA: Proc Biol Sci Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 20122526 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Paleontology and Geology Laboratory, Nature Research Center, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, , Raleigh, NC 27601, USA, Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, , Raleigh, NC 27607, USA, Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, , Chicago, IL 60640, USA. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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