The end of the line: competitive exclusion and the extinction of historical entities.

ABSTRACT: Identifying competitive exclusion at the macroevolutionary scale has typically relied on demonstrating a reciprocal, contradictory response by two co-occurring, functionally similar clades. Finding definitive examples of such a response in fossil time series has proven challenging, however, as has controlling for the effects of a changing physical environment. We take a novel approach to this issue by quantifying variation in trait values that capture almost the entirety of function for steam locomotives (SL), a known example of competitive exclusion from material culture, with the goal of identifying patterns suitable for assessing clade replacement in the fossil record. Our analyses find evidence of an immediate, directional response to the first appearance of a direct competitor, with s

SUBMITTER: Strotz LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9943885 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature