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Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks

Lamniform sharks are apex marine predators undergoing dramatic local and regional decline worldwide, with consequences for marine ecosystems that are difficult to predict. Through their long history, lamniform sharks have faced widespread extinction, and understanding those ‘natural experiments’ may...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Belben, Rachel A., Underwood, Charlie J., Johanson, Zerina, Twitchett, Richard J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5462355/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28591222
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178294
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author Belben, Rachel A.
Underwood, Charlie J.
Johanson, Zerina
Twitchett, Richard J.
author_facet Belben, Rachel A.
Underwood, Charlie J.
Johanson, Zerina
Twitchett, Richard J.
author_sort Belben, Rachel A.
collection PubMed
description Lamniform sharks are apex marine predators undergoing dramatic local and regional decline worldwide, with consequences for marine ecosystems that are difficult to predict. Through their long history, lamniform sharks have faced widespread extinction, and understanding those ‘natural experiments’ may help constrain predictions, placing the current crisis in evolutionary context. Here we show, using novel morphometric analyses of fossil shark teeth, that the end-Cretaceous extinction of many sharks had major ecological consequences. Post-extinction ecosystems supported lower diversity and disparity of lamniforms, and were dominated by significantly smaller sharks with slimmer, smoother and less robust teeth. Tooth shape is intimately associated with ecology, feeding and prey type, and by integrating data from extant sharks we show that latest Cretaceous sharks occupied similar niches to modern lamniforms, implying similar ecosystem structure and function. By comparison, species in the depauperate post-extinction community occupied niches most similar to those of juvenile sand tigers (Carcharias taurus). Our data show that quantitative tooth morphometrics can distinguish lamniform sharks due to dietary differences, providing critical insights into ecological consequences of past extinction episodes.
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spelling pubmed-54623552017-06-22 Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks Belben, Rachel A. Underwood, Charlie J. Johanson, Zerina Twitchett, Richard J. PLoS One Research Article Lamniform sharks are apex marine predators undergoing dramatic local and regional decline worldwide, with consequences for marine ecosystems that are difficult to predict. Through their long history, lamniform sharks have faced widespread extinction, and understanding those ‘natural experiments’ may help constrain predictions, placing the current crisis in evolutionary context. Here we show, using novel morphometric analyses of fossil shark teeth, that the end-Cretaceous extinction of many sharks had major ecological consequences. Post-extinction ecosystems supported lower diversity and disparity of lamniforms, and were dominated by significantly smaller sharks with slimmer, smoother and less robust teeth. Tooth shape is intimately associated with ecology, feeding and prey type, and by integrating data from extant sharks we show that latest Cretaceous sharks occupied similar niches to modern lamniforms, implying similar ecosystem structure and function. By comparison, species in the depauperate post-extinction community occupied niches most similar to those of juvenile sand tigers (Carcharias taurus). Our data show that quantitative tooth morphometrics can distinguish lamniform sharks due to dietary differences, providing critical insights into ecological consequences of past extinction episodes. Public Library of Science 2017-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5462355/ /pubmed/28591222 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178294 Text en © 2017 Belben et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Belben, Rachel A.
Underwood, Charlie J.
Johanson, Zerina
Twitchett, Richard J.
Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title_full Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title_fullStr Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title_full_unstemmed Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title_short Ecological impact of the end-Cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
title_sort ecological impact of the end-cretaceous extinction on lamniform sharks
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5462355/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28591222
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178294
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