Diversity trends in Neogene European ungulates and rodents: large-scale comparisons and perspectives.

Die Naturwissenschaften
Olivier Maridet, Loïc Costeur

Abstract

The ungulate and rodent fossil records are often used independently to understand mammalian evolutionary history. Few studies have directly compared both records over long time periods and large geographic areas. Here, we compiled two datasets of European fossil localities containing rodents and/or ungulates over 20 My (Early Miocene-Early Pliocene) and processed the data with the same methodology. We counted the raw diversity and calculated a measure of evenness (Pielou's index). After controlling for potential biases on diversity estimators, we identify the evenness index as a more reliable estimator bringing interesting insights into the way both mammal groups are structured by biotic or abiotic factors. In this study, we consider that an uneven distribution of the species richness among families, when only some families successfully diversify within the "continental-scale community", represents a lower adaptability of this community to the environmental context. Pielou's index is used to estimate this adaptability through time. The responses of ungulates and rodents to environmental changes are very divergent, especially facing the climatic changes known since the Middle Miocene. The general patterns suggest that rodent bro...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 16, 2013·The American Naturalist·Susumu Tomiya
Oct 2, 2015·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Juan L CantalapiedraJorge Morales

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