The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals |
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Authors: | Smith Felisa A Boyer Alison G Brown James H Costa Daniel P Dayan Tamar Ernest S K Morgan Evans Alistair R Fortelius Mikael Gittleman John L Hamilton Marcus J Harding Larisa E Lintulaakso Kari Lyons S Kathleen McCain Christy Okie Jordan G Saarinen Juha J Sibly Richard M Stephens Patrick R Theodor Jessica Uhen Mark D |
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Affiliation: | Department of Biology, MSC03 2020, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. fasmith@unm.edu |
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Abstract: | The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On each continent, the maximum size of mammals leveled off after 40 million years ago and thereafter remained approximately constant. There was remarkable congruence in the rate, trajectory, and upper limit across continents, orders, and trophic guilds, despite differences in geological and climatic history, turnover of lineages, and ecological variation. Our analysis suggests that although the primary driver for the evolution of giant mammals was diversification to fill ecological niches, environmental temperature and land area may have ultimately constrained the maximum size achieved. |
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