Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:19:18.161Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Notes on the rates and patterns of size change in evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Itaru Hayami
Itaru Hayami*
Affiliation:
University Museum, University of Tokyo; Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The rates and patterns of phyletic body size increase and decrease are discussed on the assumption that size change proceeds toward some limit due to selective advantage. Because the selection pressure must decrease as the average body size of an evolving population approaches the limit, some sigmoidal curve should be regarded as more appropriate for the model of size increase than an exponential curve as in the case of population growth. For phyletic size decrease, the predicted pattern is similar to a radiometric decay curve. The conventional unit of morphological rate, darwin, has been used on the assumption that the change is exponential, but actual lineages in the fossil record may represent only fractions of such sigmoidal curves. Some actual data on size increases in ceratopsian dinosaurs and Jurassic bivalves are examined, and it is concluded that sigmoidal size increase seems also empirically to be a more widespread pattern than exponential.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , Summer 1978 , pp. 252 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Bonner, J. T. 1968. Size change in development and evolution. In: Macurda, D. B. Jr., ed. Paleobiological Aspects of Growth and Development. Paleontol. Soc. Mem. 2 [J. Paleontol. 42, suppl. to no. 5]:1–15.Google Scholar
Colbert, E. H. 1948. Evolution of the horned dinosaurs. Evolution. 2:145–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eldredge, N. and Gould, S. J. 1972. Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. Pp. 82–115. In: Schopf, T. J. M., ed. Models in Paleobiology. 250 pp.Freeman, Cooper and Co.; San Francisco, California.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. and Eldredge, N. 1977. Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered. Paleobiology. 3:115–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haldane, J. B. S. 1949. Suggestions as to quantitative measurement of rates of evolution. Evolution. 3:51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hallam, A. 1975. Evolutionary size increase and longevity in Jurassic bivalves and ammonites. Nature. 258:493–496.Google Scholar
Hayami, I. 1973. Discontinuous variation in an evolutionary species, Cryptopecten vesiculosus, from Japan. J. Paleontol. 47:401–420, pls. 1, 2.Google Scholar
Hayami, I. and Ozawa, T. 1975. Evolutionary models of lineage-zones. Lethaia. 8:1–14.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. E. and MacArthur, R. H. 1959. A theoretical ecological model of size distribution among species of animals. Am. Nat. 93:117–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, D. E. 1975. The role of phyletic change in the evolution of Pseudocubus vema (Radiolaria). Paleobiology. 1:359–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtén, B. 1959. Rates of evolution in fossil mammals. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 24:205–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kurtén, B. 1972. The ‘half-life’ concept in evolution illustrated from various mammalian groups. Pp. 187–193. In: Bishop, W. W. and Miller, J. A., eds. Calibration of Hominoid Evolution. Scottish Acad. Press; New York.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1949. Phyletic size increase—an important trend illustrated by fossil invertebrates. Evolution. 3:103–124.Google Scholar
Ozawa, T. 1975. Evolution of Lepidolina multiseptata (Permian foraminifer) in East Asia. Mem. Fac. Sci. Kyushu Univ. Ser. D Geol. 23:117–164, pls. 22–26.Google Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1974. Population and Community Ecology. 424 pp. Gordon and Breach Sci. Publ.; New York.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1975. Taxonomic survivorship curves and Van Valen's law. Paleobiology. 1:82–96.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1977. Stochastic models of evolutionary paleontology. Pp. 59–78. In: Hallam, A., ed. Patterns of Evolution, as Illustrated by the Fossil Record. 591 pp.Elsevier; Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Rensch, B. 1947. Neuere Probleme der Abstammunglehre. Enke; Stuttgart. [English translation: Evolution Above the Species Level. 419 pp. Columbia Univ. Press; New York, 1959]Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1944. Tempo and Mode in Evolution. 237 pp. Columbia Univ. Press; New York.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1953. The Major Features of Evolution. 434 pp. Columbia Univ. Press; New York.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1973. An explanation for Cope's rule. Evolution. 27:1–26.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1973. A new evolutionary law. Evol. Theory. 1:1–30.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1974. Two modes of evolution. Nature. 252:298–300.Google Scholar