Fluctuating climate and dietary innovation drove ratcheted evolution of proboscidean dental traits.

ABSTRACT: Identification of the selective forces that shaped adaptive phenotypes generally relies on current habitat and function, but these may differ from the context in which adaptations arose. Moreover, the fixation of adaptive change in a fluctuating environment and the mechanisms of long-term trends are still poorly understood, as is the role of behaviour in triggering these processes. Time series of fossils can provide evidence on these questions, but examples of individual lineages with adequate fossil and proxy data over extended periods are rare. Here, we present new data on proboscidean dental evolution in East Africa over the past 26 million years, tracking temporal patterns of morphological change in relation to proxy evidence of diet, vegetation and climate (aridity). We show that beha

SUBMITTER: Saarinen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10482678 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature