10.1073/pnas.1409886112Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America112164909-491

Goldberg, Emma E

Huang, Danwei

Roy, Kaustuv

PubMed

ScholarBank@NUS

Fossils, phylogenies, and the challenge of preserving evolutionary history in the face of anthropogenic extinctions

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          Anthropogenic impacts are endangering many species, potentially leading to a disproportionate loss of evolutionary history (EH) in the future. However, surprisingly little is known about the loss of EH during extinctions in the geological past, and thus we do not know whether anthropogenic extinctions are pruning the tree of life in a manner that is unique in Earth's history. Comparisons of EH loss during past and ongoing extinctions is difficult because of conceptual differences in how ages are estimated from paleontological data versus molecular phylogenies. We used simulations and empirical analyses to show that the differences between the two data types do not preclude such comparisons, which are essential for improving evolutionarily informed models of conservation prioritization.</jats:p

Danwei Huang

Emma E. Goldberg

Kaustuv Roy

Crossref

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Huang, Danwei (5202931)

Goldberg, Emma E (5241910)

Roy, Kaustuv (5241907)

FigShare

Anthropogenic impacts are endangering many long-lived species and lineages, possibly leading to a disproportionate loss of existing evolutionary history (EH) in the future. However, surprisingly little is known about the loss of EH during major extinctions in the geological past, and thus we do not know whether human impacts are pruning the tree of life in a manner that is unique in the history of life. A major impediment to comparing the loss of EH during past and current extinctions is the conceptual difference in how ages are estimated from paleontological data versus molecular phylogenies. In the former case the age of a taxon is its entire stratigraphic range, regardless of how many daughter taxa it may have produced; for the latter it is the time to the most recent common ancestor shared with another extant taxon. To explore this issue, we use simulations to understand how the loss of EH is manifested in the two data types. We also present empirical analyses of the marine bivalve clade Pectinidae (scallops) during a major Plio-Pleistocene extinction in California that involved a preferential loss of younger species. Overall, our results show that the conceptual difference in how ages are estimated from the stratigraphic record versus molecular phylogenies does not preclude comparisons of age selectivities of past and present extinctions. Such comparisons not only provide fundamental insights into the nature of the extinction process but should also help improve evolutionarily informed models of conservation prioritization

Goldberg, Emma

eScholarship - University of California

Fossils, phylogenies, and the challenge of preserving evolutionary history in the face of anthropogenic extinctions.

https://figshare.com/articles/Fossils_phylogenies_and_the_challenge_of_preserving_evolutionary_history_in_the_face_of_anthropogenic_extinctions/6293878

Fossils, phylogenies, and the challenge of preserving evolutionary history in the face of anthropogenic extinctions

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eScholarship - University of California