Dinosaur/plant interactions: testing co-evolutionary patterns over geological timescales

恐龙/植物相互作用：测试地质时间尺度上的共同进化模式

• 批准号: NE/C002865/1
• 负责人: Paul Barrett
• 金额: $ 12.95万
• 依托单位: Natural History Museum
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FC002865%2F1
• 关键词: Dinosaur; plant; interactions; testing; co

Co-evolution happens when two (or more) species interact with each other so that the evolution of one influences the evolution of the other, and vice versa (e.g., flowers and insect pollinators). Experimental studies on living organisms show that co-evolution plays a major role in promoting evolutionary radiations, but it is unclear to what extent this has been important in the history of life. On geological timescales, many plausible examples have been proposed (e.g., in mammals 'arms races' in brain size and running ability between predators and prey), but few of these have been tested quantitatively, and they remain controversial. Here, we propose to provide tests of the numerous hypotheses that have posited co-evolutionary interactions between herbivorous dinosaurs and plants during the Cretaceous Period (145-65 million years ago). These organisms provide a model system that can be viewed as a test case for assessing the importance of co-evolution over extended timescales. We will construct a comprehensive database on the global distributions of Cretaceous dinosaurs and plants, based on an exhaustive survey of the scientific literature. To these data we will add information on environmental conditions at the time (e.g., climate), and all of this will be incorporated into a Geographical Information System (GIS). The GIS is a computer-based tool that allows one to visualise and analyse spatial information. This will enable us to make detailed comparisons of the distributions in time and space of dinosaurs and plants (e.g., flowering plant families vs. specific dinosaur genera; large dinosaurs > 1, 000 kg vs. types of foliage). We will also compare the fossil records of the two groups with other variables (e.g., climate, latitude, rock type). GIS will allow these associations to be tested at an unprecedented level of detail, and it will also provide statistical tools for analysing such patterns quantitatively. This project represents a novel application of GIS techniques to testing of evolutionary questions over extended geological timescales. Using this approach we will test a variety of hypotheses of dinosaur-plant co-evolution in the following broad categories: (1) proposed correlations between the evolution of dinosaur jaw mechanisms and Cretaceous plant groups; (2) environmental controls on the distribution of dinosaur and plant taxonomic groups in time and space; (3) co-evolutionary and ecological associations between dinosaur and plant body types (highlighting, for example, comparisons between variables such as dinosaur body mass and plant morphology); (4) tight co-evolutionary interactions between specific plant and dinosaur species. The presence of specific repeated associations between dinosaur and plant groups or body types would be consistent with co-evolution; conversely, the lack of such associations would falsify co-evolutionary hypotheses. Negative results could, however, provide a clear signal of dinosaur/plant environmental preferences at a hitherto unprecedented level of accuracy. The proposed tests also address the more general issue of whether hypotheses of co-evolution are actually supported by the fossil evidence. This analysis will therefore provide the first empirical test of the extent to which herbivorous dinosaurs and plants can be said to have co-evolved during the Cretaceous Period.

当两个（或更多）物种相互作用时，共同进化发生，使得一个物种的进化影响另一个物种的进化，反之亦然（例如，花和昆虫传粉者）。对生物体的实验研究表明，共同进化在促进进化辐射方面起着重要作用，但尚不清楚这在生命史上的重要程度。在地质时间尺度上，已经提出了许多似是而非的例子（例如，在哺乳动物的“军备竞赛”中，捕食者和猎物之间的大脑大小和奔跑能力），但其中很少有定量测试，它们仍然存在争议。在这里，我们提出了许多假设，假设在白垩纪（1.45 -65亿年前）食草恐龙和植物之间的共同进化的相互作用提供测试。这些生物体提供了一个模型系统，可以被视为一个测试案例，用于评估在延长的时间尺度上共同进化的重要性。我们将在详尽调查科学文献的基础上，建立一个关于白垩纪恐龙和植物全球分布的综合数据库。对于这些数据，我们将添加有关当时环境条件的信息（例如，气候），所有这些都将纳入地理信息系统。地理信息系统是一种基于计算机的工具，允许人们可视化和分析空间信息。这将使我们能够详细比较恐龙和植物在时间和空间上的分布（例如，开花植物科与特定恐龙属;> 1，000公斤的大型恐龙与树叶类型）。我们还将比较这两个群体的化石记录与其他变量（例如，气候、纬度、岩石类型）。地理信息系统将使这些联系得到前所未有的详细检验，它还将提供统计工具，对这种模式进行定量分析。这个项目代表了一个新的应用GIS技术测试的进化问题在延长地质时间尺度。利用这一方法，我们将在以下大类中检验恐龙-植物协同进化的各种假说：（1）恐龙颌骨机制的进化与白垩纪植物群之间的相关性：（2）环境对恐龙和植物分类群在时间和空间上的分布的控制;（3）恐龙与植物体型之间的协同进化和生态关联（例如，突出恐龙体重和植物形态等变量之间的比较）;（4）植物与恐龙物种之间存在紧密的协同进化关系。恐龙和植物群体或体型之间存在特定的重复关联，这与共同进化是一致的;相反，缺乏这种关联会使共同进化的假设失效。然而，负面的结果可以提供一个明确的信号，恐龙/植物的环境偏好在一个前所未有的准确性水平。拟议的测试也解决了更普遍的问题，即共同进化的假设是否真的得到化石证据的支持。因此，这项分析将提供第一个经验性的测试，在何种程度上可以说，食草恐龙和植物在白垩纪时期共同进化。