The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution
Brocklehurst, Neil1; Upchurch, Paul2; Mannion, Philip D.1,3; O'Connor, Jingmai4,5
刊名PLOS ONE
2012-06-25
卷号7期号:6
文献子类Article
英文摘要Many palaeobiological analyses have concluded that modern birds (Neornithes) radiated no earlier than the Maastrichtian, whereas molecular clock studies have argued for a much earlier origination. Here, we assess the quality of the fossil record of Mesozoic avian species, using a recently proposed character completeness metric which calculates the percentage of phylogenetic characters that can be scored for each taxon. Estimates of fossil record quality are plotted against geological time and compared to estimates of species level diversity, sea level, and depositional environment. Geographical controls on the avian fossil record are investigated by comparing the completeness scores of species in different continental regions and latitudinal bins. Avian fossil record quality varies greatly with peaks during the Tithonian-early Berriasian, Aptian, and Coniacian-Santonian, and troughs during the Albian-Turonian and the Maastrichtian. The completeness metric correlates more strongly with a 'sampling corrected' residual diversity curve of avian species than with the raw taxic diversity curve, suggesting that the abundance and diversity of birds might influence the probability of high quality specimens being preserved. There is no correlation between avian completeness and sea level, the number of fluviolacustrine localities or a recently constructed character completeness metric of sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Comparisons between the completeness of Mesozoic birds and sauropodomorphs suggest that small delicate vertebrate skeletons are more easily destroyed by taphonomic processes, but more easily preserved whole. Lagerstatten deposits might therefore have a stronger impact on reconstructions of diversity of smaller organisms relative to more robust forms. The relatively poor quality of the avian fossil record in the Late Cretaceous combined with very patchy regional sampling means that it is possible neornithine lineages were present throughout this interval but have not yet been sampled or are difficult to identify because of the fragmentary nature of the specimens.
WOS关键词ORNITHURINE BIRD ; ROCK RECORD ; AVES ORNITHOTHORACES ; DINOSAUR DIVERSITY ; SAMPLING BIASES ; MASS EXTINCTION ; TERTIARY BIRDS ; SEA-LEVEL ; RADIATION ; ARCHAEOPTERYX
WOS研究方向Science & Technology - Other Topics
语种英语
WOS记录号WOS:000305781700016
内容类型期刊论文
源URL[http://124.16.247.212/handle/311034/7210]  
专题古脊椎动物与古人类研究所_图书馆1
作者单位1.Leibniz Inst Evolut & Biodiversitatsforsch, Museum Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany
2.UCL, Dept Earth Sci, London, England
3.Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Dept Earth Sci & Engn, London, England
4.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Beijing, Peoples R China
5.Nat Hist Museum LA Cty, Dinosaur Inst, Los Angeles, CA USA
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GB/T 7714
Brocklehurst, Neil,Upchurch, Paul,Mannion, Philip D.,et al. The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution[J]. PLOS ONE,2012,7(6).
APA Brocklehurst, Neil,Upchurch, Paul,Mannion, Philip D.,&O'Connor, Jingmai.(2012).The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution.PLOS ONE,7(6).
MLA Brocklehurst, Neil,et al."The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution".PLOS ONE 7.6(2012).
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