Linked Life Data

8622763

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/8622763

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6579
pubmed:dateCreated
1996-6-19
pubmed:abstractText
The classical hypothesis for the diversification of birds and mammals proposes that most of the orders diverged rapidly in adaptive radiations after the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) extinction event 65 million years ago. Evidence is provided by the near-absence of fossils representing modern orders before the K/T boundary. However, fossil-based estimates of divergence time are known to be conservative because of sampling biases, and some molecular/time estimates point to earlier divergences among orders. In an attempt to resolve this controversy, we have estimated times of divergence among avian and mammalian orders with a comprehensive set of genes that exhibit a constant rate of substitution. Here we report molecular estimates of divergence times that average about 50-90% earlier than those predicted by the classical hypothesis, and show that the timing of these divergences coincides with the Mesozoic fragmentation of emergent land areas. This suggests that continental breakup may have been an important mechanism in the ordinal diversification of birds and mammals.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
May
pubmed:issn
0028-0836
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
16
pubmed:volume
381
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
226-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1996
pubmed:articleTitle
Continental breakup and the ordinal diversification of birds and mammals.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biology and Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, USA. sbh1@psuvm.psu.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.