The herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were the
largest terrestrial animals ever, surpassing the largest herbivorous mammals by an order of …

The largest known dinosaurs weighed at least 20 million times as much as the smallest,
indicating exceptional phenotypic divergence. Previous studies have focused on extreme …

A systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the
trajectories of empires and civilizations. Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit …

Neotropical mammal diversity is currently threatened by several chronic human-induced
pressures. We compiled 1,029 contemporary mammal assemblages surveyed across the …

Life history theory seeks to explain the evolution of the major features of life cycles by
analyzing the ecological factors that shape age-specific schedules of growth, reproduction …

There are few putative macroevolutionary trends or rules that withstand scrutiny. Here, we
test and verify the purported tendency for animal clades to reach their maximum …

Abstract The Eumetabola (Endopterygota (also known as Holometabola) plus
Paraneoptera) have the highest number of species of any clade, and greatly contribute to …

Phenotypic selection occurs when individuals with certain characteristics produce more
surviving offspring than individuals with other characteristics. Although selection is regarded …

Clade dynamics in the fossil record broadly fit expectations from the operation of
competition, predation, and mutualism, but data from both modern and ancient systems …

The modern giant sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus, one of the largest known
predators, preys upon cephalopods at great depths,. Lacking a functional upper dentition, it …