Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary
Determining the tempo and mode of non-avian dinosaur extinction is one of the most contentious issues in palaeobiology. Extensive disagreements remain over whether their extinction was catastrophic and geologically instantaneous or the culmination of long-term evolutionary trends. These conflicts ha...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.201195 |
| _version_ | 1818641072697376768 |
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| author | Joseph A. Bonsor Paul M. Barrett Thomas J. Raven Natalie Cooper |
| author_facet | Joseph A. Bonsor Paul M. Barrett Thomas J. Raven Natalie Cooper |
| author_sort | Joseph A. Bonsor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Determining the tempo and mode of non-avian dinosaur extinction is one of the most contentious issues in palaeobiology. Extensive disagreements remain over whether their extinction was catastrophic and geologically instantaneous or the culmination of long-term evolutionary trends. These conflicts have arisen due to numerous hierarchical sampling biases in the fossil record and differences in analytical methodology, with some studies identifying long-term declines in dinosaur richness prior to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary and others proposing continued diversification. Here, we use Bayesian phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models to assess the fit of 12 dinosaur phylogenies to three speciation models (null, slowdown to asymptote, downturn). We do not find strong support for the downturn model in our analyses, which suggests that dinosaur speciation rates were not in terminal decline prior to the K-Pg boundary and that the clade was still capable of generating new taxa. Nevertheless, we advocate caution in interpreting the results of such models, as they may not accurately reflect the complexities of the underlying data. Indeed, current phylogenetic methods may not provide the best test for hypotheses of dinosaur extinction; the collection of more dinosaur occurrence data will be essential to test these ideas further. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T23:21:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c54ee5a45a6d4dd2b42517943b504af3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T23:21:21Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-c54ee5a45a6d4dd2b42517943b504af32022-12-21T22:12:10ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032020-11-0171110.1098/rsos.201195201195Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundaryJoseph A. BonsorPaul M. BarrettThomas J. RavenNatalie CooperDetermining the tempo and mode of non-avian dinosaur extinction is one of the most contentious issues in palaeobiology. Extensive disagreements remain over whether their extinction was catastrophic and geologically instantaneous or the culmination of long-term evolutionary trends. These conflicts have arisen due to numerous hierarchical sampling biases in the fossil record and differences in analytical methodology, with some studies identifying long-term declines in dinosaur richness prior to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary and others proposing continued diversification. Here, we use Bayesian phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models to assess the fit of 12 dinosaur phylogenies to three speciation models (null, slowdown to asymptote, downturn). We do not find strong support for the downturn model in our analyses, which suggests that dinosaur speciation rates were not in terminal decline prior to the K-Pg boundary and that the clade was still capable of generating new taxa. Nevertheless, we advocate caution in interpreting the results of such models, as they may not accurately reflect the complexities of the underlying data. Indeed, current phylogenetic methods may not provide the best test for hypotheses of dinosaur extinction; the collection of more dinosaur occurrence data will be essential to test these ideas further.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.201195diversification ratesdinosauriaglmmsphylogenybayesiank-pg boundary |
| spellingShingle | Joseph A. Bonsor Paul M. Barrett Thomas J. Raven Natalie Cooper Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary Royal Society Open Science diversification rates dinosauria glmms phylogeny bayesian k-pg boundary |
| title | Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary |
| title_full | Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary |
| title_fullStr | Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary |
| title_short | Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary |
| title_sort | dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the k pg boundary |
| topic | diversification rates dinosauria glmms phylogeny bayesian k-pg boundary |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.201195 |
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