The origin of tetrapod herbivory: effects on local plant diversity
The origin of tetrapod herbivory: effects on local plant diversity
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2020.0124
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发表时间：
2020-06-10
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Benson, Roger J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brocklehurst, Neil;Kammerer, Christian F.;Benson, Roger J.
石炭纪食草动物的起源是陆地生态系统进化中的一个里程碑式的事件，增加了动物的生态多样性，但也使它们对陆地植物的进化产生了更大的影响。我们通过比较当地古植物群与脊椎动物、食草动物和食草动物的物种丰富度来评估早期脊椎动物食草性对植物进化的影响。脊椎动物食草动物变得多样化，并在石炭-二叠纪过渡时期实现了更大的体型范围。这与当地植物丰富度的突然减少不谋而合，这种情况持续了整个二叠纪。时间序列回归分析支持植物丰富度与食草动物丰富度呈负相关，而植物丰富度与最小食草动物体尺呈正相关。这与对当今生态系统的研究是一致的，在这些研究中，更小、更具选择性的食草动物的多样性增加，给植物带来了更大的捕食压力，而更大、更具选择性的食草动物的盛行，减少了少数高度耐受的植物物种的优势，从而促进了当地更大的丰富度。石炭-二叠纪界线上食草动物的多样化，以及更小、更具选择性的食草动物的出现，如副雷龙，限制了整个二叠纪的植物多样性。这些发现表明，自晚古生代以来，广泛存在的脊椎动物草食动物的建立形成了植物群落，正如现代生态系统研究所预期的那样，并说明了化石数据集在检验古生态假说方面的潜力。
The origin of herbivory in the Carboniferous was a landmark event in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, increasing ecological diversity in animals but also giving them greater influence on the evolution of land plants. We evaluate the effect of early vertebrate herbivory on plant evolution by comparing local species richness of plant palaeofloras with that of vertebrate herbivores and herbivore body size. Vertebrate herbivores became diverse and achieved a much greater range of body sizes across the Carboniferous-Permian transition interval. This coincides with an abrupt reduction in local plant richness that persists throughout the Permian. Time-series regression analysis supports a negative relationship of plant richness with herbivore richness but a positive relationship of plant richness with minimum herbivore body size. This is consistent with studies of present-day ecosystems in which increased diversity of smaller, more selective herbivores places greater predation pressures on plants, while a prevalence of larger bodied, less selective herbivores reduces the dominance of a few highly tolerant plant species, thereby promoting greater local richness. The diversification of herbivores across the Carboniferous-Permian boundary, along with the appearance of smaller, more selective herbivores like bolosaurid parareptiles, constrained plant diversity throughout the Permian. These findings demonstrate that the establishment of widespread vertebrate herbivory has structured plant communities since the late Palaeozoic, as expected from examination of modern ecosystems, and illustrates the potential for fossil datasets in testing palaeoecological hypotheses.