Tempo of trophic evolution and its impact on mammalian diversification

Mammals are characterized by the complex adaptations of their dentition, which are an indication that diet has played a critical role in their evolutionary history. Although much attention has focused on diet and the adaptations of specific taxa, the role of diet in large-scale diversification patte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2012-05, Vol.109 (18), p.7008-7012
Main Authors: Price, Samantha A, Hopkins, Samantha S. B, Smith, Kathleen K, Roth, V. Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptability
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Biological Sciences
Carnivores
Carnivory
Databases, Factual
Diet
Diets
Ecosystem
Evolution
Evolution & development
Extinct species
Extinction, Biological
Genetic diversity
Habitats
Herbivores
Herbivory
Humans
Mammals
Mammals - classification
Mammals - physiology
Omnivores
Parametric models
Phylogeny
Prediction
Speciation
Species extinction
teeth
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Summary:Mammals are characterized by the complex adaptations of their dentition, which are an indication that diet has played a critical role in their evolutionary history. Although much attention has focused on diet and the adaptations of specific taxa, the role of diet in large-scale diversification patterns remains unresolved. Contradictory hypotheses have been proposed, making prediction of the expected relationship difficult. We show that net diversification rate (the cumulative effect of speciation and extinction), differs significantly among living mammals, depending upon trophic strategy. Herbivores diversify fastest, carnivores are intermediate, and omnivores are slowest. The tempo of transitions between the trophic strategies is also highly biased: the fastest rates occur into omnivory from herbivory and carnivory and the lowest transition rates are between herbivory and carnivory. Extant herbivore and carnivore diversity arose primarily through diversification within lineages, whereas omnivore diversity evolved by transitions into the strategy. The ability to specialize and subdivide the trophic niche allowed herbivores and carnivores to evolve greater diversity than omnivores.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1117133109