作者
Tristan Charles-Dominique, T Jonathan Davies, Gareth P Hempson, Bezeng S Bezeng, Barnabas H Daru, Ronny M Kabongo, Olivier Maurin, A Muthama Muasya, Michelle Van der Bank, William J Bond
发表日期
2016/9/20
期刊
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
卷号
113
期号
38
页码范围
E5572-E5579
出版商
National Academy of Sciences
简介
Savannas first began to spread across Africa during the Miocene. A major hypothesis for explaining this vegetation change is the increase in C4 grasses, promoting fire. We investigated whether mammals could also have contributed to savanna expansion by using spinescence as a marker of mammal herbivory. Looking at the present distribution of 1,852 tree species, we established that spinescence is mainly associated with two functional types of mammals: large browsers and medium-sized mixed feeders. Using a dated phylogeny for the same tree species, we found that spinescence evolved at least 55 times. The diversification of spiny plants occurred long after the evolution of Afrotherian proboscideans and hyracoids. However, it is remarkably congruent with diversification of bovids, the lineage including the antelope that predominantly browse these plants today. Our findings suggest that herbivore-adapted …
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T Charles-Dominique, TJ Davies, GP Hempson… - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016