Open AccessMacroevolution and climate change influence phylogenetic community assembly of N orth A merican hoofed mammals
Author(s) -
Fraser Danielle,
Gorelick Root,
Rybczynski Natalia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/bij.12457
Subject(s) - biology , macroevolution , origination , species richness , extinction (optical mineralogy) , ecology , phylogenetic tree , clade , mammal , phylogenetic diversity , phylogenetics , niche , taxon , evolutionary biology , paleontology , gene , computer network , biochemistry , computer science
Animal richness, community composition, and phylogenetic community structure ( PCS ) vary across the modern landscape. Animal communities vary from phylogenetically clustered (i.e. higher relatedness amongst co‐occurring species than is expected by chance) to phylogenetically even (i.e. co‐occurring taxa are more distantly related than expected by chance), which is explained by abiotic or climatic filtering and competitive exclusion, respectively. Under this model, the contribution of historical origination and extinction events to modern animal PCS remains relatively unknown. Because origination and extinction determine the make‐up of the terrestrial community, the study of historical changes in animal PCS is tantamount to understanding formation of modern communities. In the present study, we test the effects of macroevolution and climate changes on ‘hoofed mammals’ (i.e. perissodactyl and artiodactyl) PCS from the late C enozoic of N orth A merica because they experience large, phylogenetically dispersed extinctions of browsing species and phylogenetically dispersed originations of grazing species associated with the evolution of grassland ecosystems during the late M iocene. We show that the loss of numerically dominant nonhypsodont (putatively browsing and mixed feeding) clades and phylogenetically dispersed origination of less speciose clades following the mid M iocene climatic optimum led to an increase in phylogenetic evenness at the regional scale that is well explained by global climate changes. Phylogenetic evenness and a reduced richness during the late C enozoic may have facilitated reduced niche overlap among co‐occurring hoofed mammal species as global climates cooled. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2015, 114 , 485–494.