Paleoenvironments of the Shungura Formation (Plio-Pleistocene: Ethiopia) based on ecomorphology of the bovid astragalus

Barr, W. Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.002

Cited by 47 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The discussions over how to consider phylogenetic effects in ecomorphology resemble previous discussions over whether to remove or incorporate size information, with most researchers now agreeing that as the allometric component of size retains important functional and biological signals, size should not be removed but rather controlled by adjusting for the isometric component. This study concurs with those of previous authors (Scott & Barr, ; Barr, , ) suggesting that although researchers should be mindful of its contribution, it is not necessary to factor phylogeny out completely or even partially. It was also noted that a number of different methods, such as the divergence–convergence analysis proposed by Louys et al.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Blomberg's K has been used to help incorporate intraspecific variation into phylogenetic analyses (see, for example, Ives et al. ; Revell & Reynolds, ), but as the approach has not been very widely used (Revell & Reynolds, ) and the majority of mammalian ecomorphic studies (Barr, , ; Scott & Barr, ) use species means without sample variation in phylogenetic analyses, for comparability the more traditional method was adopted.…”

Section: Arboreality Terrestriality and Generality In The Guenonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There has been increasing debate in the literature over how phylogeny should be assessed and incorporated into classic ecomorphological analyses (Louys et al. ; Barr, , ; Scott & Barr, ; Plummer et al. ), including whether traits with a strong phylogenetic signal pose a ‘risk’ when interpreting ecomorphological signal.…”

Section: Arboreality Terrestriality and Generality In The Guenonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the sample size caveat, use of species mean values inevitably smooths out intraspecific variation, which may be highly biological and ecologically meaningful. Blomberg's K has been used to help incorporate intraspecific variation into phylogenetic analyses (see, for example, Ives et al 2007;Revell & Reynolds, 2012), but as the approach has not been very widely used (Revell & Reynolds, 2012) and the majority of mammalian ecomorphic studies (Barr, 2014(Barr, , 2015Scott & Barr, 2014) use species means without sample variation in phylogenetic analyses, for comparability the more traditional method was adopted. The vast majority of variables are non-significant for Blomberg's K and Moran's I, and there are similar numbers of variables with K above and below 1, although no value is closer to 0 than 1.…”

Section: Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework

et al. 2016

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Nearly all primates are ecologically dependent on trees, but they are nonetheless found in an enormous range of habitats, from highly xeric environments to dense rainforest. Most primates have a relatively ‘generalised’ skeleton, enabling locomotor flexibility and facilitating other crucial functions, such as manual foraging and grooming. This paper explores the associations between habitat, locomotion and morphology in the forelimbs of cercopithecids (Old World monkeys), contextualising their skeletal ecomorphological patterns with those of other mammals, and complementing functional morphological analyses with phylogenetic comparative techniques. The ecomorphological signals present in the generalised primate postcranium, and how an ancestral arboreal ‘bauplan’ might be modified to incorporate terrestriality or exploit distinct arboreal substrates, are investigated. Analysis of ecomorphological variation in guenons indicates that terrestrial Chlorocebus species retain core elements of a general guenon form, with modifications for terrestriality that vary by species. Adaptation to different modes of arboreality has also occurred in Cercopithecus. The considerable morphological similarity in the guenons sampled emphasises the importance of generality in the primate postcranium – much forelimb variation appears to have emerged stochastically, with a smaller number of traits having a strong functional signal. Analysis of a broader sample of cercopithecids and comparison with felids, suids and bovids indicates that although the cercopithecid humerus has functional morphological signals that enable specimens to be assigned with a reasonable degree of certainty to habitat groups, there is considerable overlap in the specimens assigned to each habitat group. This probably reflects ecological dependence on trees, even in predominantly terrestrial species, as well as the multiple functions of the forelimb and, in some cases, wide geographic distributions that promote intraspecific variation. The use of phylogenetic correction reduced the discriminatory power of the models, indicating that, like allometry, phylogeny contains important ecomorphological information, and should not necessarily be factored out of analyses.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Arboreality Terrestriality and Generality In The Guenonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Arboreality Terrestriality and Generality In The Guenonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework

et al. 2016

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“…The most detailed and continuous record from this time interval comes from the Shungura Formation of the northern Omo-Turkana Basin (McDougall et al 2012), where faunal evidence suggests the replacement of closed and mesic environments by more open and arid ones over the period between 2.9 and 2.3 Ma (Wesselman 1984;Bobe and Eck 2001;Bobe and Behrensmeyer 2004;Bibi et al 2013;Barr 2015). These faunal changes are broadly in sync with an intensification of African aridification after~2.8 Ma during the onset of high latitude glacial cycles (deMenocal 1995(deMenocal , 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil Giraffidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Lee Adoyta, Ledi-Geraru, and Late Pliocene Dietary Evolution in Giraffids from the Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia

et al. 2016

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The giraffid fossils recovered from~2.8-2.6 million year old (Ma) sediments from Lee Adoyta, Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, are described here. Sivatherium maurusium and Giraffa cf. G. gracilis are the two identified taxa, with the former being more abundant than the latter. We interpret this skew of relative abundance to be of paleoenvironmental significance, as Sivatherium is rare and Giraffa is common in the adjacent, but older sediments of the Hadar Formation at Hadar (~3.4 to 2.95 Ma), which was characterized by wooded and well-watered habitats through most of its sequence. Stable carbon isotope analyses show that Giraffa remained an obligate browser throughout the lower Awash Valley (LAV) sequence while Sivatherium underwent a dietary transition from a browser in the Hadar Formation to a grazer at Lee Adoyta. This dietary shift in Sivatherium reflects local environmental change through time in the LAVas open habitats spread during the late Pliocene. A compilation of isotopic data from other sites in eastern Africa shows that the LAV dietary shift in Sivatherium occurred roughly one million years earlier than in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, reflecting a spatiotemporally staggered expansion of C 4 vegetation across eastern Africa.

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Three‐dimensional geometric morphometric analyses of humerus ecomorphology: New perspectives for paleohabitat reconstruction in carnivorans and ungulates

Serio,

Brown,

Clauss

et al. 2024

The Anatomical Record

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Long bone ecomorphology has proven effective for paleohabitat reconstructions across a wide range of mammalian clades. Still, there is no comprehensive framework to allow interpretation of long bone morphological variation within and between different monophyletic groups. Here, we investigated the use of humerus morphometry to classify living members of the orders Carnivora and ungulates based on their preferred habitats. Using geometric morphometrics, we extracted three different kinds of humerus shape data describing interspecific variation with and without accounting for evolutionary allometry and phylogenetic signal. The traditional a priori categorization of species in open, mixed, and closed habitats was employed in combination with selected subsets of shape variables to identify the best‐predictive models for habitat adaptation. These were identified based on the statistical performance of phylogenetic and non‐phylogenetic discriminant analyses and then applied to predict habitats on a subsample of fossil species. Size‐free shape data combined with phylogenetic discriminant analyses showed the highest rate of accuracy in habitat classification for a combined sample of carnivorans and ungulates. Conversely, when the two groups were investigated separately, traditional shape data analyzed with phylogenetic discriminant function analyses provided models with the greatest predictive power. By combining carnivorans and ungulates within the same methodological framework we identified common adaptive features in closed habitat‐adapted species that show compressed epiphyses, while open habitat‐adapted species have expanded epiphyses. These morphologies evolved to allow significant degree of direction switches during locomotion in closed habitats compared to open habitat‐adapted species whose forelimb joints evolved to stabilize articulations for increasing speed.

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Paleoenvironments of the Shungura Formation (Plio-Pleistocene: Ethiopia) based on ecomorphology of the bovid astragalus

Cited by 47 publications

References 44 publications

Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework

Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework

Fossil Giraffidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Lee Adoyta, Ledi-Geraru, and Late Pliocene Dietary Evolution in Giraffids from the Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia

Three‐dimensional geometric morphometric analyses of humerus ecomorphology: New perspectives for paleohabitat reconstruction in carnivorans and ungulates

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