Dietary specialization is linked to reduced species durations in North American fossil canids.

ABSTRACT: How traits influence species persistence is a fundamental question in ecology, evolution and palaeontology. We test the relationship between dietary traits and both species duration and locality coverage over 40 million years in North American canids, a clade with considerable ecomorphological disparity and a dense fossil record. Because ecomorphological generalization-broad resource use-may enable species to withstand disturbance, we predicted that canids of average size and mesocarnivory would exhibit longer durations and wider distributions than specialized larger or smaller species. Second, because locality coverage might reflect dispersal ability and/or survivability in a range of habitats, we predicted that high coverage would correspond with longer durations. We find a nonlinear rel

SUBMITTER: Balisi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5936914 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature