scholarly journals A Cretaceous peak in family-level insect diversity estimated with mark–recapture methodology

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1917) ◽  
pp. 20192054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra R. Schachat ◽  
Conrad C. Labandeira ◽  
Matthew E. Clapham ◽  
Jonathan L. Payne

The history of insects’ taxonomic diversity is poorly understood. The two most common methods for estimating taxonomic diversity in deep time yield conflicting results: the ‘range through’ method suggests a steady, nearly monotonic increase in family-level diversity, whereas ‘shareholder quorum subsampling’ suggests a highly volatile taxonomic history with family-level mass extinctions occurring repeatedly, even at the midpoints of geological periods. The only feature shared by these two diversity curves is a steep increase in standing diversity during the Early Cretaceous. This apparent diversification event occurs primarily during the Aptian, the pre-Cenozoic interval with the most described insect occurrences, raising the possibility that this feature of the diversity curves reflects preservation and sampling biases rather than insect evolution and extinction. Here, the capture–mark–recapture (CMR) approach is used to estimate insects’ family-level diversity. This method accounts for the incompleteness of the insect fossil record as well as uneven sampling among time intervals. The CMR diversity curve shows extinctions at the Permian/Triassic and Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundaries but does not contain any mass extinctions within geological periods. This curve also includes a steep increase in diversity during the Aptian, which appears not to be an artefact of sampling or preservation bias because this increase still appears when time bins are standardized by the number of occurrences they contain rather than by the amount of time that they span. The Early Cretaceous increase in family-level diversity predates the rise of angiosperms by many millions of years and can be better attributed to the diversification of parasitic and especially parasitoid insect lineages.

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 248-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H. Knoll

In an essay published in 1977, S.J. Gould argued that three major questions have dominated paleontological thinking for more than a century. Does the history of life have direction? What is the motor of evolutionary change? And, what is the tempo of change? Certainly, these “eternal metaphors” have figured prominently in the research of invertebrate paleontologists during the past decade. Temporal pattern has been sought in changing morphologies within lineages, the changing structure and composition of communities, trends in taxonomic diversity, and even the occurrence of mass extinctions. Drifting continents, changing climates and oceanic circulation patterns, biological interactions, and extraterrestrial influences have all been championed as significant determinants of evolutionary change. The punctuation/gradualism debate has generated an impressive body of stratigraphic and morphological data, if not an unambiguous resolution of the issue.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifang Xiao ◽  
Conrad C. Labandeira ◽  
Ben‐Dov Yair ◽  
S. Augusta Maccracken ◽  
Chungkun Shih ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20150060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dena M. Smith ◽  
Jonathan D. Marcot

Coleoptera (beetles) is the most species-rich metazoan order, with approximately 380 000 species. To understand how they came to be such a diverse group, we compile a database of global fossil beetle occurrences to study their macroevolutionary history. Our database includes 5553 beetle occurrences from 221 fossil localities. Amber and lacustrine deposits preserve most of the beetle diversity and abundance. All four extant suborders are found in the fossil record, with 69% of all beetle families and 63% of extant beetle families preserved. Considerable focus has been placed on beetle diversification overall, however, for much of their evolutionary history it is the clade Polyphaga that is most responsible for their taxonomic richness. Polyphaga had an increase in diversification rate in the Early Cretaceous, but instead of being due to the radiation of the angiosperms, this was probably due to the first occurrences of beetle-bearing amber deposits in the record. Perhaps, most significant is that polyphagan beetles had a family-level extinction rate of zero for most of their evolutionary history, including across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Therefore, focusing on the factors that have inhibited beetle extinction, as opposed to solely studying mechanisms that may promote speciation, should be examined as important determinants of their great diversity today.


2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1824) ◽  
pp. 20152476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Clapham ◽  
Jered A. Karr ◽  
David B. Nicholson ◽  
Andrew J. Ross ◽  
Peter J. Mayhew

Insects are a hyper-diverse group, comprising nearly three-quarters of all named animal species on the Earth, but the environmental drivers of their richness and the roles of ecological interactions and evolutionary innovations remain unclear. Previous studies have argued that family-level insect richness increased continuously over the evolutionary history of the group, but inclusion of extant family records artificially inflated the relative richness of younger time intervals. Here we apply sampling-standardization methods to a species-level database of fossil insect occurrences, removing biases present in previous richness curves. We show that insect family-richness peaked 125 Ma and that Recent values are only 1.5–3 times as high as the Late Palaeozoic. Rarefied species-richness data also tentatively suggest little or no net increase in richness over the past 125 Myr. The Cretaceous peak in family richness was coincident with major radiations within extant groups but occurred prior to extinctions within more basal groups. Those extinctions may in part be linked to mid-Cretaceous floral turnover following the evolution of flowering plants. Negligible net richness change over the past 125 Myr implies that major radiations within extant groups were offset by reduced richness within groups that are now relict or extinct.


Paleobiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Saunders ◽  
Emily Greenfest-Allen ◽  
David M. Work ◽  
S. V. Nikolaeva

Principal components analysis (PCA) of 21 shell parameters (geometry, sculpture, aperture shape, and suture complexity) in 597 L. Devonian to L. Triassic ammonoid genera (spanning ~166 Myr) shows that eight basic morphotypes appeared within ~20 Myr of the first appearance of ammonoids. With one exception, these morphotypes persisted throughout the Paleozoic, occurring in ~75% of the ~5-Myr time bins used in this study. Morphotypes were not exclusive to particular lineages. Their persistence was not just a product of phylogenetic constraints or longevity, and multiple iterations of the same morphotypes occurred at different times and in different groups. Although mass extinction events severely condensed the range of morphologic variation and taxonomic diversity, the effects were short lived and most extinct morphotypes were usually iterated within 5 Myr. The most important effect of mass extinctions on ammonoid evolutionary history seems to have been their role in large scale taxonomic turnovers; they effectively eliminated previously dominant orders at the Frasnian/Famennian (F/F) (Agoniatitida), the Devonian/Mississippian (D/M) (Clymeniida), and the Permian/Triassic (P/T) (Goniatitida and Prolecanitida) extinctions. Survivors varied from two (P/T) to four (D/M) and five genera (F/F). These events generated sharp reductions in morphologic disparity at the D/M (58%) and at the P/T (59%), but there was a net increase at the F/F (38%). There was no obvious survival bias for particular morphotypes, but 64% are interpreted to have beenNautilus-like nektobenthic. The recurrence of particular combinations of morphology and their strong independence of phylogeny are strong arguments for functional constraint. Intervals between mass extinctions seem to have been relatively static in terms of morphotype numbers, in contrast to numbers of genera. Significant decreases in genus diversity (54%) and morphologic disparity (33%) commenced in the mid-Permian (Wordian/Capitanian boundary), well before the final P/T event.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger B. J. Benson ◽  
Philip D. Mannion

Statistical models are helping palaeontologists to elucidate the history of biodiversity. Sampling standardization has been extensively applied to remedy the effects of uneven sampling in large datasets of fossil invertebrates. However, many vertebrate datasets are smaller, and the issue of uneven sampling has commonly been ignored, or approached using pairwise comparisons with a numerical proxy for sampling effort. Although most authors find a strong correlation between palaeodiversity and sampling proxies, weak correlation is recorded in some datasets. This has led several authors to conclude that uneven sampling does not influence our view of vertebrate macroevolution. We demonstrate that multi-variate regression models incorporating a model of underlying biological diversification, as well as a sampling proxy, fit observed sauropodomorph dinosaur palaeodiversity best. This bivariate model is a better fit than separate univariate models, and illustrates that observed palaeodiversity is a composite pattern, representing a biological signal overprinted by variation in sampling effort. Multi-variate models and other approaches that consider sampling as an essential component of palaeodiversity are central to gaining a more complete understanding of deep time vertebrate diversification.


Author(s):  
Jovo Lojanica ◽  

All management standards have requirements for different aspects of improvements on the personal level, family level, company level, in business and life. What is about national level and country level? Is it possible for today’s generations to learn history of nations and of civilizations? If it is — ok, let’s apply it on actual time and people to have less problems and difficulties — especially if is actual in field of risk management. Majority of people are occupied by today’s problems. They don’t consider past and future challenges. People from each country strive for better quality, better and cleaner environment, higher safety etc. historically and today. But could we remember: How did Genghis Khan conquer many regions and how was he defeated? How did Mayas and Aztecs die out? How were Native Americans in North America drastically reduced in numbers? How did the Roman Imperium vanish? How was the Ottoman Imperium established and how it vanished? How many people were killed in the wars in XX century, etc? In all these catastrophic changes risks were not considered in an adequate way. Requirements of risk management — Principles and guidelines — ISO 31000:2009 are very consultative. They could be used on country level, national level, regional level, continental and intercontinental level.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 3712
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Rattray ◽  
Ben-Erik Van Wyk

The Lamiaceae is undoubtedly an important plant family, having a rich history of use that spans the globe with many species being used in folk medicine and modern industries alike. Their ability to produce aromatic volatile oils has made them valuable sources of materials in the cosmetic, culinary, and pharmaceutical industries. A thorough account of the taxonomic diversity, chemistry and ethnobotany is lacking for southern African Lamiaceae, which feature some of the region’s most notable medicinal and edible plant species. We provide a comprehensive insight into the Lamiaceae flora of southern Africa, comprising 297 species in 42 genera, 105 of which are endemic to the subcontinent. We further explore the medicinal and traditional uses, where all genera with documented uses are covered for the region. A broad review of the chemistry of southern African Lamiaceae is presented, noting that only 101 species (34%) have been investigated chemically (either their volatile oils or phytochemical characterization of secondary metabolites), thus presenting many and varied opportunities for further studies. The main aim of our study was therefore to present an up-to-date account of the botany, chemistry and traditional uses of the family in southern Africa, and to identify obvious knowledge gaps.


Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Rachel F. Brenner

To appraise Martel’s non-Jewish perspective of Holocaust thematic, it is important to assess it in the context of the Jewish relations with the Holocaust. Even though the Jewish claim to the uniqueness of the Holocaust has been disputed since the end of the war especially in Eastern Europe, the Jewish response determined to a large extent the reception of the disaster on the global scene. On a family level, the children of survivors have identified themselves as the legitimate heirs of the unknowable experience of their parents. On a collective level, the decree of Jewish annihilation constructed a Jewish identity that imposed an obligation to keep the Holocaust memory in the consciousness of the world. Martel proposes to supersede the history of the Holocaust with a story which would downplay the Jewish filiation with the Holocaust, elicit an affiliative response to the event of the non-Jewish writer and consequently integrate it into the memory of humanity at large. However, the Holocaust theme of Beatrice and Virgil refuses to assimilate within the general memory of humanity; rather, the consciousness of the event, which pervades the post-Holocaust world, insists on its constant presence. The omnipresence of the Holocaust blurs the distinctions between the filiative (Jewish) and affiliative (non-Jewish) attitudes toward the Jewish tragedy, gripping the writer in its transcendent horror. Disregarding his ethnic or religious origins, the Holocaust takes over the writer’s personal life and determines his story.


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