EXTINCTION SELECTIVITY AMONG LOWER TAXA - GRADATIONAL PATTERNS AND RAREFACTION ERROR IN EXTINCTION ESTIMATES

被引:31
作者
MCKINNEY, ML [1 ]
机构
[1] UNIV TENNESSEE,GRAD PROGRAM ECOL,KNOXVILLE,TN 37996
关键词
D O I
10.1017/S0094837300013312
中图分类号
X176 [生物多样性保护];
学科分类号
090705 ;
摘要
Documenting past environmental disturbances will provide a very incomplete explanation of extinctions until more data on intrinsic (e.g., phylogenetic) responses to disturbances are collected. Taxonomic selectivity can be used to infer phylogenetic inheritance of extinction-biasing traits. Selectivity patterns among higher taxa, such as between mammals and bivalves, are well documented. Selectivity patterns among lower taxa (genus, species) have great potential for understanding the dynamics underlying higher taxic turnover. Two echinoid data sets, of fossil and Living taxa, indicate that species extinctions do not occur randomly within genera. Reverse rarefaction estimates of past species extinction rates assume random species extinction within higher taxa, so these widely cited extinction estimates may be inaccurate. Revised estimates based on a simulated curve imply that past species extinctions rates may be 6%-15% lower than previously cited. Possible causes for the observed selectivity patterns are discussed. These include nonrandom phylogenetic nesting of species with traits often cited as enhancing extinction vulnerability, into certain taxa. Such traits include low abundance, large body size, narrow niche breadth, and many others. Phylogenetic nesting of extinction-biasing traits at many taxonomic levels does not predict that a dichotomy of mass-background selectivity based on a few trails will occur. Instead, it predicts patterns of selectivity at many taxonomic levels, and at many spatio-temporal scales.
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页码:300 / 313
页数:14
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