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A test for evolutionary equilibria: Phanerozoic brachiopods and Cenozoic mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Graham A. Mark  and
Karl W. Flessa
Graham A. Mark
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794
Karl W. Flessa
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794
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Abstract

The fossil record of Phanerozoic brachiopod genera and Late Cenozoic New World mammal genera is examined for evidence of evolutionary equilibria. One necessary (but insufficient) condition is met: within temporal intervals, numbers of originations correlate with numbers of extinctions. Eliminating temporally short-ranging brachiopods, however, reduces the correlation so that it explains only 16% of the variation. More decisive tests of the equilibrium hypothesis appear impossible with available data. Difficulties of temporal and geographic scale, taxonomic level, and ecological consistency must be resolved before equilibrium models can be applied in paleontology for other than inspiration.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Winter 1977 , pp. 17 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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