PMID: 11607592Nov 21, 1995Paper

The challenge of paleoecological stasis: reassessing sources of evolutionary stability

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
P J MorrisC E Brett

Abstract

The paleontological record of the lower and middle Paleozoic Appalachian foreland basin demonstrates an unprecedented level of ecological and morphological stability on geological time scales. Some 70-80% of fossil morphospecies within assemblages persist in similar relative abundances in coordinated packages lasting as long as 7 million years despite evidence for environmental change and biotic disturbances. These intervals of stability are separated by much shorter periods of ecological and evolutionary change. This pattern appears widespread in the fossil record. Existing concepts of the evolutionary process are unable to explain this uniquely paleontological observation of faunawide coordinated stasis. A principle of evolutionary stability that arises from the ecosystem is explored here. We propose that hierarchical ecosystem theory, when extended to geological time scales, can explain long-term paleoecological stability as the result of ecosystem organization in response to high-frequency disturbance. The accompanying stability of fossil morphologies results from "ecological locking," in which selection is seen as a high-rate response of populations that is hierarchically constrained by lower-rate ecological processes. Whe...Continue Reading

References

Jun 3, 1994·Science·J B Jackson
Jun 3, 1994·Science·M A Buzas, S J Culver

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Citations

Sep 15, 2010·PloS One·Christopher R Noto, Ari Grossman
Jun 17, 2008·The American Naturalist·Sonia KéfiMichel Loreau
Jun 5, 2008·Molecular Ecology·Gary A Wellborn, Richard E Broughton
Nov 23, 2007·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Jacob Johansson
Jul 28, 2010·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Douglas J Futuyma
Mar 19, 2020·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Miriam L ZelditchDonald L Swiderski
Sep 26, 2017·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Curtis R CongreveJames C Lamsdell
Aug 24, 2018·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Luke C StrotzBruce S Lieberman
Apr 17, 2021·Science·Fernando BlancoJuan L Cantalapiedra

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