scholarly journals Habitat tracking, stasis and survival in Neogene large mammals

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Raia ◽  
F. Passaro ◽  
D. Fulgione ◽  
F. Carotenuto
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Species Survival ◽  
Morphological Stasis ◽  
Explicit Analysis ◽  
Response To Environmental Change ◽  
Habitat Tracking

Species response to environmental change may vary from adaptation to the new conditions, to dispersal towards territories with better ecological settings (known as habitat tracking), and to extinction. A phylogenetically explicit analysis of habitat tracking in Caenozoic large mammals shows that species moving over longer distances during their existence survived longer. By partitioning the fossil record into equal time intervals, we showed that the longest distance was preferentially covered just before extinction. This supports the idea that habitat tracking is a key reaction to environmental change, and confirms that tracking causally prolongs species survival. Species covering longer distances also have morphologically less variable cheek teeth. Given the tight relationship between cheek teeth form and habitat selection in large mammals, this supports the well-known, yet little tested, idea that habitat tracking bolsters morphological stasis.

scholarly journals Continuing the debate on the role of Quaternary environmental change for macroevolution

2004 ◽  
Vol 359 (1442) ◽  
pp. 295-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Species Response ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dna Characterization ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Response To Environmental Change

The Quaternary has been a period of dramatic environmental change for the past 1.8 Myr, with major shifts in distributions and abundances of terrestrial and marine organisms. The evolutionary consequences of this have been debated since the nineteenth century. However, the lack of accurate relative and absolute time–scales for evolutions and environmental change inhibited progress. We do now have an understanding of time–scales. Palaeoecology has demonstrated the individualistic nature of species' response to environmental change, but lacks a means of determining ancestry. DNA characterization of modern populations in relation to their distributions nicely complements palaeoecological results by contributing ancestry. The chance to understand how species originate and the causal factors of speciation (environmental change or otherwise) may be within reach.

scholarly journals Global Phylogeographic and Admixture Patterns in Grey Wolves and Genetic Legacy of An Ancient Siberian Lineage

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Pilot ◽  
Andre E. Moura ◽  
Innokentiy M. Okhlopkov ◽  
Nikolay V. Mamaev ◽  
Abdulaziz N. Alagaili ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Phylogeographic Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Relationships ◽  
Clustering Methods ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Response To Environmental Change ◽  
Ambiguous Position ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe evolutionary relationships between extinct and extant lineages provide important insight into species’ response to environmental change. The grey wolf is among the few Holarctic large carnivores that survived the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions, responding to that period’s profound environmental changes with loss of distinct lineages and phylogeographic shifts, and undergoing domestication. We reconstructed global genome-wide phylogeographic patterns in modern wolves, including previously underrepresented Siberian wolves, and assessed their evolutionary relationships with a previously genotyped wolf from Taimyr, Siberia, dated at 35 Kya. The inferred phylogeographic structure was affected by admixture with dogs, coyotes and golden jackals, stressing the importance of accounting for this process in phylogeographic studies. The Taimyr lineage was distinct from modern Siberian wolves and constituted a sister lineage of modern Eurasian wolves and domestic dogs, with an ambiguous position relative to North American wolves. We detected gene flow from the Taimyr lineage to Arctic dog breeds, but population clustering methods indicated closer similarity of the Taimyr wolf to modern wolves than dogs, implying complex post-divergence relationships among these lineages. Our study shows that introgression from ecologically diverse con-specific and con-generic populations was common in wolves’ evolutionary history, and could have facilitated their adaptation to environmental change.

scholarly journals Competition alters species’ plastic and genetic response to environmental change

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Govaert ◽  
Luis J. Gilarranz ◽  
Florian Altermatt
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Phenotypic Change ◽  
Competing Species ◽  
Species Persistence ◽  
Species Survival ◽  
Genetic Responses ◽  
Genetic Contributions ◽  
Response To Environmental Change

AbstractSpecies react to environmental change via plastic and evolutionary responses. While both of them determine species’ survival, most studies quantify these responses individually. As species occur in communities, competing species may further influence their respective response to environmental change. Yet, how environmental change and competing species combined shape plastic and genetic responses to environmental change remains unclear. Quantifying how competition alters plastic and genetic responses of species to environmental change requires a trait-based, community and evolutionary ecological approach. We exposed unicellular aquatic organisms to long-term selection of increasing salinity—representing a common and relevant environmental change. We assessed plastic and genetic contributions to phenotypic change in biomass, cell shape, and dispersal ability along increasing levels of salinity in the presence and absence of competition. Trait changes in response to salinity were mainly due to mean trait evolution, and differed whether species evolved in the presence or absence of competition. Our results show that species’ evolutionary and plastic responses to environmental change depended both on competition and the magnitude of environmental change, ultimately determining species persistence. Our results suggest that understanding plastic and genetic responses to environmental change within a community will improve predictions of species’ persistence to environmental change.

USING HISTORICAL ANNUAL REPORTS IN TEACHING: LETTING THE PAST BENEFIT THE PRESENT

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Amernic ◽  
Ramy Elitzur
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
The Past ◽  
Response To Environmental Change

In this article, it is suggested that accounting education may be enhanced by the use of published historical accounting materials, such as annual reports. Comparing such materials with modern reports serves to reinforce the notion that accounting evolves in response to environmental change. Further, requiring students to analytically derive cash flow statements from historical published annual reports provides several direct pedagogical benefits.

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