Extant mammal body masses suggest punctuated equilibrium.

Is gradual microevolutionary change within species simultaneously the source of macroevolutionary differentiation between species? Since its first publication, Darwin's original idea that phenotypic differences between species develop gradually over time, as the accumulation of small selection-induced changes in successive generations has been challenged by palaeontologists claiming that, instead, new species quickly acquire their phenotypes to remain virtually unchanged until going extinct again. This controversy, widely known as the 'punctuated equilibrium' debate, remained unresolved, largely owing to the difficulty of distinguishing biological species from fossil remains. We analysed body masses of 2143 existing mammal species on a phylogeny comprising 4510 (i.e. nearly all) extant species to estimate rates of gradual (anagenetic) and speciational (cladogenetic) evolution. Our Bayesian estimates from mammals as well as separate sub-clades such as primates and carnivores suggest that gradual evolution is responsible for only a small part of body size variation between mammal species.

Bokma, FolmerUmeå universitet,Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap(Swepub:umu)fobo0001 (författare)
Umeå universitetInstitutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap (creator_code:org_t)

Ingår i:Proc Biol Sci: The Royal Society275:1648, s. 2195-90962-8452
Ingår i:Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: The Royal Society275:1648, s. 2195-91471-2954

Om ämnet

Kungliga biblioteket hanterar dina personuppgifter i enlighet med EU:s dataskyddsförordning (2018), GDPR. Läs mer om hur det funkar här.
Så här hanterar KB dina uppgifter vid användning av denna tjänst.