The multi-peak adaptive landscape of crocodylomorph body size evolution

Godoy, Pedro; Benson, Roger B. J.; Bronzati, Mario; Butler, Richard J.

doi:10.1101/405621

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 183 publications

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“…Our results show that, even though this new generation of models can explain evolutionary patterns better than its predecessors (Table 2; see also Landis and Schraiber 2017), the history of echinoid body size seems to be too complex to be explained by a uniform process. This echoes the results of other explorations of body size evolution in comparative datasets (Price and Hopkins 2015; Benson et al 2018; Godoy et al 2019). This complexity is better accommodated by non-uniform macroevolutionary models, all of which attained higher AICc weights than those that assume that a single process governed evolution across the entire phylogeny (Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoids and the Evolution of Body Size across Adaptive Landscape

Koch

Thompson

2020

Preprint

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12Several unique properties of echinoids (sea urchins) make them useful for exploring 13 macroevolutionary dynamics, including their remarkable fossil record that can be incorporated 14 into explicit phylogenetic hypotheses. However, this potential cannot be exploited without a 15 robust resolution of the echinoid tree of life. We revisit the phylogeny of crown group 16 Echinoidea using both the largest phylogenomic dataset compiled for the clade, as well as a 17 large-scale morphological matrix with a dense fossil sampling. We also gather a new 18 compendium of both tip and node age constraints, allowing us to combine phylogenomic, 19 morphological and stratigraphic data using a total-evidence dating approach. For this, we 20 develop a novel method for subsampling phylogenomic datasets that selects loci with high 21 phylogenetic signal, low systematic biases and enhanced clock-like behavior. Our approach 22 restructure much of the higher-level phylogeny of echinoids, and demonstrates that combining 23 different data sources increases topological accuracy. We are able to resolve multiple alleged 24 conflicts between molecular and morphological datasets, such as the position of Echinothurioida 25 and Echinoneoida, as well as unravelling the relationships between sand dollars and their closest 26 relatives. We then use this topology to trace the evolutionary history of echinoid body size 27 through more than 270 million years, revealing a complex pattern of convergent evolution to 28 stable peaks in macroevolutionary adaptive landscape. Our efforts show how combining 29 phylogenomic and paleontological evidence offers new ways of exploring evolutionary forces 30 operating across deep timescales.31 32

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoids and the Evolution of Body Size across Adaptive Landscape

Koch

Thompson

2020

Preprint

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“…The evolution of crocodyliform body size cannot be reconciled with a simple Brownian motion model (Godoy et al 2019). Rather, the best model of body size evolution is one in which the adaptive landscape contains many unique optimal body sizes.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Rather, the best model of body size evolution is one in which the adaptive landscape contains many unique optimal body sizes. Specifically, shifts to larger sizes are often linked to more aquatic lifestyles (Godoy et al 2019). However, it has yet to be determined what selective pressure(s) caused these independent size shifts that are associated with living in water.…”

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confidence: 99%

Physiological constraints on body size distributions in Crocodyliformes

Gearty

Payne

2020

Evolution

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At least 26 species of crocodylian populate the globe today, but this richness represents a minute fraction of the diversity and disparity of Crocodyliformes. Fossil forms are far more varied, spanning from erect, fully terrestrial species to flippered, fully marine species. To quantify the influence of a marine habitat on the directionality, rate, and variance of evolution of body size in Crocodyliformes and thereby identify underlying selective pressures, we compiled a database of body sizes for 264 fossil and modern species of crocodyliform covering terrestrial, semi‐aquatic, and marine habitats. We find increases in body size coupled with increases in strength of selection and decreases in variance following invasions of marine habitats but not of semiaquatic habitats. A model combining constraints from thermoregulation and lung capacity provides a physiological explanation for the larger minimum and average sizes of marine species. It appears that constraints on maximum size are shared across Crocodyliformes, perhaps through factors such as the allometric scaling of feeding rate versus basal metabolism with body size. These findings suggest that broad‐scale patterns of body size evolution and the shapes of body size distributions within higher taxa are often determined more by physiological constraints than by ecological interactions or environmental fluctuations.

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“…2015). Exhibiting a wide range of morphological variation, from gracile omnivores to pug-nosed herbivores, notosuchians contributed significantly to the highest peak of morphological disparity experienced by crocodyliforms (Wilberg 2017; Godoy 2019; Godoy et al . 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A unique predator in a unique ecosystem: modelling the apex predator from the late cretaceous crocodyliform-dominated fauna in brazil

Montefeltro¹,

Lautenschlager

Godoy

et al. 2019

Preprint

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ABSTRACTTheropod dinosaurs were relatively scarce in the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of southeast Brazil. Instead, hypercarnivorous crocodyliforms known as baurusuchids were abundant and probably occupied the ecological role of apex predators. Baurusuchids exhibited a series of morphological adaptations hypothesised to be associated with this ecological role, but quantitative biomechanical analyses of their morphology have so far been lacking. Here, we employ a biomechanical modelling approach, applying finite element analysis (FEA) to models of the skull and mandibles of a baurusuchid specimen. This allowed us to characterise the craniomandibular apparatus of baurusuchids, as well as to compare the functional morphology of the group to that of other archosaurian carnivores, such as theropods and crocodylians. Our results support the ecological role of baurusuchids as specialised apex predators in the continental Late Cretaceous ecosystems of South America. With a relatively weak bite force (∼600 N), baurusuchids’ predation strategies likely relied on other morphological specializations, such as ziphodont dentition and strong cervical musculature. Comparative assessments of the stress distribution and magnitude of scaled models of other predators (the theropod Allosaurus fragilis and the living crocodylian Alligator mississippiensis) consistently show different responses to loadings under the same functional scenarios, suggesting distinct predatory behaviours for these animals. The unique selective pressures in the arid to semi-arid Late Cretaceous ecosystems of southeast Brazil, which were dominated by crocodyliforms, possibly drove the emergence and evolution of the biomechanical features seen in baurusuchids, which are distinct from those previously reported for other predatory taxa.

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The multi-peak adaptive landscape of crocodylomorph body size evolution

Cited by 3 publications

References 183 publications

A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoids and the Evolution of Body Size across Adaptive Landscape

A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoids and the Evolution of Body Size across Adaptive Landscape

Physiological constraints on body size distributions in Crocodyliformes

A unique predator in a unique ecosystem: modelling the apex predator from the late cretaceous crocodyliform-dominated fauna in brazil

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