The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
Large consumers have ecological influence disproportionate to their abundance, although this influence in food webs depends directly on productivity. Evolutionary patterns at geologic timescales inform expectations about the relationship between consumers and productivity, but it is very difficult t...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 2024-09-15T18:23:28+00:00 The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans Pyenson, Nicholas D. Vermeij, Geerat J. Basis Foundation Smithsonian Institution 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 12, issue 7, page 20160186 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2016 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 2024-08-19T04:24:58Z Large consumers have ecological influence disproportionate to their abundance, although this influence in food webs depends directly on productivity. Evolutionary patterns at geologic timescales inform expectations about the relationship between consumers and productivity, but it is very difficult to track productivity through time with direct, quantitative measures. Based on previous work that used the maximum body size of Cenozoic marine invertebrate assemblages as a proxy for benthic productivity, we investigated how the maximum body size of Cenozoic marine mammals, in two feeding guilds, evolved over comparable temporal and geographical scales. First, maximal size in marine herbivores remains mostly stable and occupied by two different groups (desmostylians and sirenians) over separate timeframes in the North Pacific Ocean, while sirenians exclusively dominated this ecological mode in the North Atlantic. Second, mysticete whales, which are the largest Cenozoic consumers in the filter-feeding guild, remained in the same size range until a Mio-Pliocene onset of cetacean gigantism. Both vertebrate guilds achieved very large size only recently, suggesting that different trophic mechanisms promoting gigantism in the oceans have operated in the Cenozoic than in previous eras. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic The Royal Society Biology Letters 12 7 20160186 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Large consumers have ecological influence disproportionate to their abundance, although this influence in food webs depends directly on productivity. Evolutionary patterns at geologic timescales inform expectations about the relationship between consumers and productivity, but it is very difficult to track productivity through time with direct, quantitative measures. Based on previous work that used the maximum body size of Cenozoic marine invertebrate assemblages as a proxy for benthic productivity, we investigated how the maximum body size of Cenozoic marine mammals, in two feeding guilds, evolved over comparable temporal and geographical scales. First, maximal size in marine herbivores remains mostly stable and occupied by two different groups (desmostylians and sirenians) over separate timeframes in the North Pacific Ocean, while sirenians exclusively dominated this ecological mode in the North Atlantic. Second, mysticete whales, which are the largest Cenozoic consumers in the filter-feeding guild, remained in the same size range until a Mio-Pliocene onset of cetacean gigantism. Both vertebrate guilds achieved very large size only recently, suggesting that different trophic mechanisms promoting gigantism in the oceans have operated in the Cenozoic than in previous eras. |
author2 |
Basis Foundation Smithsonian Institution |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pyenson, Nicholas D. Vermeij, Geerat J. |
spellingShingle |
Pyenson, Nicholas D. Vermeij, Geerat J. The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
author_facet |
Pyenson, Nicholas D. Vermeij, Geerat J. |
author_sort |
Pyenson, Nicholas D. |
title |
The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
title_short |
The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
title_full |
The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
title_fullStr |
The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
title_full_unstemmed |
The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans |
title_sort |
rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the pacific and atlantic oceans |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 12, issue 7, page 20160186 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
20160186 |
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1810463680091914240 |