RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Punctuated evolution shaped modern vertebrate diversity
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 151175
DO 10.1101/151175
A1 Michael J. Landis
A1 Joshua G. Schraiber
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/18/151175.abstract
AB The relative importance of different modes of evolution in shaping phenotypic diversity remains a hotly debated question. Fossil data suggest that stasis may be a common mode of evolution, while modern data suggest very fast rates of evolution. One way to reconcile these observations is to imagine that evolution is punctuated, rather than gradual, on geological time scales. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel maximum likelihood framework for fitting Lévy processes to comparative morphological data. This class of stochastic processes includes both a gradual and punctuated component. We found that a plurality of modern vertebrate clades examined are best fit by punctuated processes over models of gradual change, gradual stasis, and adaptive radiation. When we compare our results to theoretical expectations of the rate and speed of regime shifts for models that detail fitness landscape dynamics, we find that our quantitative results are broadly compatible with both microevolutionary models and with observations from the fossil record.