The non-uniformity of fossil preservation

Holland, Steven M.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0130

Cited by 93 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Finally, younger fossils are more similar to modern groups and are more likely to have been identified correctly. Holland (2016) discussed 'the pull of the recent', whereby the quality of the fossil record declines with geological age. He concluded: "Although minimum ages of clades are given by the oldest preserved fossil, these underestimate the true age, which must be bracketed by probabilistic methods… Although most of these methods assume uniform preservation rates, this assumption is unsupported over geological timescales…".…”

Section: Chronological Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography and ecology in a pantropical family, the Meliaceae

Heads¹

2019

GBS

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This paper reviews the biogeography and ecology of the family Meliaceae and maps many of the clades. Recently published molecular phylogenies are used as a framework to interpret distributional and ecological data. The sections on distribution concentrate on allopatry, on areas of overlap among clades, and on centres of diversity. The sections on ecology focus on populations of the family that are not in typical, dry-ground, lowland rain forest, for example, in and around mangrove forest, in peat swamp and other kinds of freshwater swamp forest, on limestone, and in open vegetation such as savanna woodland. Information on the altitudinal range of the genera is presented, and brief notes on architecture are also given. The paper considers the relationship between the distribution and ecology of the taxa, and the interpretation of the fossil record of the family, along with its significance for biogeographic studies. Finally, the paper discusses whether the evolution of Meliaceae can be attributed to 'radiations' from restricted centres of origin into new morphological, geographical and ecological space, or whether it is better explained by phases of vicariance in widespread ancestors, alternating with phases of range expansion.

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Section: Chronological Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography and ecology in a pantropical family, the Meliaceae

Heads¹

2019

GBS

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“…That structure imposes a lower limit on what we can resolve and therefore what processes we can study. On longer time scales, sequence stratigraphic architecture is the main control on the occurrence of fossils (Holland, 2000), and on even longer time scales, basin formation is what matters most (Holland, 2016). Knowing this structure will let us frame problems that we can test.…”

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confidence: 99%

Structure, not Bias

Holland¹

2017

J. Paleontol.

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“…This is a relevant issue since the spatial heterogeneity in sampling is among the most pervasive biases of fossil data and might bias macroevolutionary analyses (e.g. Sepkoski ; Holland ; Close et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic and abiotic factors driving the diversification dynamics of Crocodylia

et al. 2019

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Species diversity patterns are governed by complex interactions among biotic and abiotic factors over time and space, but are essentially the result of the diversification dynamics (differential speciation and extinction rates) over the long‐term evolutionary history of a clade. Previous studies have suggested that temporal variation in global temperature drove long‐term diversity changes in Crocodylia, a monophyletic group of large ectothermic organisms. We use a large database of crocodylian fossil occurrences (192 spp.) and body mass estimations, under a taxic approach, to characterize the global diversification dynamics of crocodylians since the Cretaceous, and their correlation with multiple biotic and abiotic factors in a Bayesian framework. The diversification dynamic of crocodylians, which appears to have originated in the Turonian (c. 92.5 Ma), is characterized by several phases with high extinction and speciation rates within a predominantly low long‐term mean rate. Our results reveal long‐term diversification dynamics of Crocodylia to be a highly complex process driven by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors which influenced the speciation and extinction rates in dissimilar ways. Higher crocodylian extinction rates are related to low body mass disparity, indicating selective extinctions of taxa at both ends of the body mass spectrum. Speciation rate slowdowns are noted when the diversity of the clade is high and the warm temperate climatic belt is reduced. Our finding supports the idea that temporal variations of body mass disparity, self‐diversity, and the warm climate belt size provided more direct mechanistic explanations for crocodylian diversification than do proxies of global temperature.

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The non-uniformity of fossil preservation

Cited by 93 publications

References 96 publications

Biogeography and ecology in a pantropical family, the Meliaceae

Biogeography and ecology in a pantropical family, the Meliaceae

Structure, not Bias

Biotic and abiotic factors driving the diversification dynamics of Crocodylia

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