科普法则和北美化石哺乳动物体质演化的动态
1Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 121, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
概括
北美的化石哺乳动物显示,随着时间的推移,血统内的身体尺寸增加的趋势,支持Cope.
科学领域:
- 古生物学的古生物学
- 进化生物学 进化生物学
- 哺乳动物进化 哺乳动物进化
背景情况:
- 科普法则描述了哺乳动物在进化过程中体型增加的一般趋势.
- 以前的研究已经讨论了这种趋势是否是真正的进化模式,还是抽样偏差的结果.
- 了解尺寸进化对于重建过去的生态系统和进化动态至关重要.
研究的目的:
- 为了研究北美化石哺乳动物体质进化的趋势.
- 为了确定体型的增加是否发生在血统内或由于其他因素.
- 评估体型与观察到的进化模式之间的关系.
主要方法:
- 分析了1534个北美化石哺乳动物物种的体重估计.
- 检查了属内的进化趋势,以确定系内效应.
- 评估了人体大小对凯诺纪时期观察到的进化模式的影响.
主要成果:
- 新的化石哺乳动物物种平均比同一个属内的旧物种大9.1%.
- 这种在血统内部的大小增加在整个中生代是一致的,并解释了科普的规则.
- 这种效应在较大的哺乳动物中更为明显,在较小的哺乳动物中是最小的.
结论:
- 这项研究证实北美化石哺乳动物的体质在血统内持续增加.
- 这种模式解释了代中哺乳动物平均体型的逐渐增加.
- 观察到的尺寸变化有助于解释哺乳动物尺寸进化的某些方面,但并非所有方面,特别是关于上限尺寸的方面.
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