Work

Superiority, Competition, and Opportunism in the Evolutionary Radiation of Dinosaurs

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: The rise and diversification of the dinosaurs in the Late Triassic, from 230 to 200 million years ago, is a classic example of an evolutionary radiation with supposed competitive replacement. A comparison of evolutionary rates and morphological disparity of basal dinosaurs and their chief "competitors," the crurotarsan archosaurs, shows that dinosaurs exhibited lower disparity and an indistinguishable rate of character evolution. The radiation of Triassic archosaurs as a whole is characterized by declining evolutionary rates and increasing disparity, suggesting a decoupling of character evolution from body plan variety. The results strongly suggest that historical contingency, rather than prolonged competition or general "superiority," was the primary factor in the rise of dinosaurs.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1161833

Authors: Stephen L. Brusatte, Michael J. Benton, Marcello Ruta, Graeme T. Lloyd

Institution: University of Bristol

Language: English

Topic: Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Natural Environment Research Council

Awards: G7122029841, The Late Permian crisis: the continental record from Russia.