Increase in predator-prey size ratios throughout the Phanerozoic history of marine ecosystems
Klompmaker, A.A.; Kowalewski, M.; Huntley, J.W.; Finnegan, S. (2017). Increase in predator-prey size ratios throughout the Phanerozoic history of marine ecosystems. Science (Wash.) 356(6343): 1178-1180. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aam7468
In: Science (Washington). American Association for the Advancement of Science: New York, N.Y. ISSN 0036-8075; e-ISSN 1095-9203, meer
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| Auteurs | | Top |
- Klompmaker, A.A.
- Kowalewski, M.
- Huntley, J.W.
- Finnegan, S.
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| Abstract |
The escalation hypothesis posits that predation by increasingly powerful and metabolically active carnivores has been a major driver of metazoan evolution. We test a key tenet of this hypothesis by analyzing predatory drill holes in fossil marine shells, which provide a ~500-million-year record of individual predator-prey interactions. We show that drill-hole size is a robust predictor of body size among modern drilling predators and that drill-hole size (and thus inferred predator size and power) rose substantially from the Ordovician to the Quaternary period, whereas the size of drilled prey remained stable. Together, these trends indicate a directional increase in predator-prey size ratios. We hypothesize that increasing predator-prey size ratios reflect increases in prey abundance, prey nutrient content, and predation among predators. |
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