Geological and anthropogenic controls on the sampling of the terrestrial fossil record: a case study from the Dinosauria
P. Upchurch
P. D. Mannion
R. B. J. Benson
R. J. Butler
M. T. Carrano
10.6084/m9.figshare.3452942.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Geological_and_anthropogenic_controls_on_the_sampling_of_the_terrestrial_fossil_record_a_case_study_from_the_Dinosauria/3452942
<p>Dinosaurs provide excellent opportunities to examine the impact of sampling biases on the palaeodiversity of terrestrial organisms.
The stratigraphical and geographical ranges of 847 dinosaurian species are analysed for palaeodiversity patterns and compared
to several sampling metrics. The observed diversity of dinosaurs, Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha and Ornithischia, are positively
correlated with sampling at global and regional scales. Sampling metrics for the same region correlate with each other, suggesting
that different metrics often capture the same signal. Regional sampling metrics perform well as explanations for regional
diversity patterns, but correlations with global diversity are weaker. Residual diversity estimates indicate that sauropodomorphs
diversified during the Late Triassic, but major increases in the diversity of theropods and ornithischians did not occur until
the Early Jurassic. Diversity increased during the Jurassic, but many groups underwent extinction during the Late Jurassic
or at the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. Although a recovery occurred during the Cretaceous, only sauropodomorphs display a
long-term upward trend. The Campanian–Maastrichtian diversity ‘peak’ is largely a sampling artefact. There is little evidence
for a gradualistic decrease in diversity prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (except for ornithischians), and when
such decreases do occur they are small relative to those experienced earlier in dinosaur evolution.
</p>
2016-06-21 11:00:09
sauropodomorphs display
847 dinosaurian species
Jurassic
Dinosauria Dinosaurs
Residual diversity estimates
palaeodiversity patterns
case study
dinosaur evolution
Sampling metrics
gradualistic decrease
sampling biases
anthropogenic controls
diversity patterns
sampling artefact
sampling metrics
Regional sampling metrics
Geology