Session 5: Comparative method: Macroevolutionary patterns (RDMP)

[Lecture slides]

One hour lecture (Sem) and one hour practical (WBS)

Seminar

The seminar will review the use of phylogenies to make inferences about macroevolution. In particular we will cover:

• Sister-group comparisons of rates of diversification
• Lineages through time plots - inferring changes in rates of diversity from molecular phylogenies
• Inferring extinction from molecular phylogenies
• Determining the age of radiation of major groups of vertebrates and what happened at the K/T boundary.

Exercise

Computer-based practical (1 hours) on testing hypotheses about macroevolutionary patterns and causes of diversification. We will evaluate Cooper and Penny's claim that modern bird orders radiated prior to the K/T boundary. Full details of this exercise and associated reading are here.

Reading (available online)

L. Bromham, A. Rambaut, R. Fortey, A. Cooper, and D. Penny
Testing the Cambrian explosion hypothesis by using a molecular dating technique
PNAS, October 13, 1998; 95(21): 12386 - 12389 [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/21/12386]

Cooper, A. and R. A. Cooper. 1995. The Oligocene bottleneck and New Zealand biota: genetic record of a past environmental crisis. Proc Roy Soc. London 261: 293-302.

Cooper, A. and D. Penny. 1997. Mass survival of birds across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary: molecular evidence. Science 275: 1109-13.[http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/275/5303/1109]

Lovette et al. 2002. Clade-specific morphological diversification and adaptive radiation in Hawaiian songbirds.Proc Roy Soc 269:37-42 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1789]

Mitter, C., B. Farrell and B. Wiegmann. 1988. The phylogenetic study of adaptive zones: has phytophagy promoted insect diversification? American Naturalist 132: 107-28.

Nee, S., E. C. Holmes, R. M. May and P. H. Harvey. 1994. Extinction rates can be estimated from molecular phylogenies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London 344: 77-82.

Rambaut, A. and L. Bronham. 1998. Estimating divergence dates from molecular sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 15: 442-8. [http://mbe.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/4/442]

Richardson et al. 2001. Rapid and recent origin of species richness in the Cape flora of South Africa. Nature 412:181-183 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35084067]

Web sites

John Alroy's article on evidence for a Paleocene evolutionary radiation of mammals.

Nature's online debate about the adequacy of the fossil record.