Do marsupials make good predators? Insights from predator-prey diversity ratios

Evolutionary Ecology Research

Volumn 8, Issue 7, 2006, Pages 1193-1214

  Croft, Darin A ^a  

^a CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

Australia; Carnivore; Cenozoic; Marsupial; Paleofauna; Phorusrhacid; Predator diversity; South America

Indexed keywords

MAMMALIA; METATHERIA;

EID: 33845252702     PISSN: 15220613     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Alvarenga, H.M.F. and Höfling, E. 2003. Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 43: 55-91.
2. Ameghino, F. 1895. Sur les oiseaux fossiles de la Patagonie. Boletín del Instituto Geográfico Argentino, 15: 501-602.
3. Badgley, C. 1986. Taphonomy of mammalian fossil remains from Siwalik rocks of Pakistan. Paleobiology, 12: 119-142.
4. Bargo, M.S., Vizcaíno, S.F. and Kay, R.F. 2004. Evidence for predominance of orthal masticatory movements in early sloths. J. Morphol., 260: 276.
5. Bargo, M.S., Toledo, N. and Vizcaino, S.F. 2006. Muzzle of South American Pleistocene ground sloths (Xenarthra, Tardigrada). J. Morphol., 267: 248-263.
6. Barnosky, A.D., Carrasco, M.A. and Davis, E.B. 2005. The impact of the species-area relationship on estimates of paleodiversity. Plos Biol., 3: 1356-1361.
7. Baynes, A. and Jones, B. 1993. The mammals of the Cape Range peninsula, north-western Australia. Records W. Austral. Mus., suppl. 45: 207-245.
8. Behrensmeyer, A.K., Stayton, C.T. and Chapman, R.E. 2003. Taphonomy and ecology of modern avifaunal remains from Amboseli Park, Kenya. Paleobiology, 29: 52-70.
9. Birney, E.C. and Monjeau, J.A. 2003. Latitudinal variation in South American marsupial biology. In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Marsupial Carnivores (M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer, eds.), pp. 297-317. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.
10. Brown, J.H. 1995. Macroecology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
11. Burness, G.P., Diamond, J. and Flannery, T. 2001. Dinosaurs, dragons, and dwarfs: the evolution of maximal body size. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98: 14518-14523.
12. Chen, X., Dickman, C.R. and Thompson, M.B. 1998. Diet of the mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), in the Simpson Desert, central Australia. Wildlife Res., 25: 233-242.
13. Cladera, G., Ruigomez, E., Jaureguizar, E.O., Bond, M. and López, G. 2004. Tafonomía de la Gran Hondonada (Formación Sarmiento, Edad-mamífero Mustersense, Eoceno Medio) Chubut, Argentina. Ameghiniana, 41: 315-330.
14. Clark, J., Beerbower, J.R. and Kietzke, K.K. 1967. Oligocene sedimentation, stratigraphy, paleoecology and paleoclimatology in the Big Badlands of South Dakota. Fieldiana: Geol. Mem., 5: 1-158.
15. Croft, D.A. 2001. Cenozoic environmental change in South America as indicated by mammalian body size distributions (cenograms). Diversity and Distributions, 7: 271-287.
16. Croft, D.A. 2002. Mammalian predator-prey diversity patterns: what do they tell us about 'island' continents? J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 22: 47A.
17. Croft, D.A. and Townsend, K.E. 2005. Inferring habitat for the late early Miocene Santa Cruz Fauna (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina) using ecological diversity analysis. J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 25: 48A.
18. Dickman, C. 2003. Distributional ecology of dasyurid marsupials. In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Marsupial Carnivores (M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer, eds.), pp. 318-331. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.
19. Ewer, R.F. 1973. The Carnivores. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
20. Farina, R.A. and Blanco, R.E. 1996. Megatherium el apuñalador. Ameghiniana, 33: 464.
21. Flannery, T. 1991. The mystery of the meganesian meat-eaters. Austral. Nat. Hist., 23: 722-729.
22. Flannery, T. 1994. The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australian Lands and People. Chatswood, NSW: Reed Books Australia.
23. Flynn, J.J. and Swisher, C.C., III. 1995. Cenozoic South American Land Mammal Ages: correlation to global geochronologies. In Geochronology, Time Scales, and Global Stratigraphic Correlation (W.A. Berggren, D.V. Kent, M.-P. Aubry and J. Hardenbol, eds.), pp. 317-333. Society for Sedimentary Geology Special Publication No. 54. Tulsa, OK: SEPM.
24. Flynn, J.J. and Wyss, A.R. 1998. Recent advances in South American mammalian paleontology. Trends Ecol. Evol., 13: 449-454.
25. Flynn, J.J., Wyss, A.R., Croft, D.A. and Charrier, R. 2003. The Tinguiririca Fauna, Chile: biochronology, paleoecology, biogeography, and a new earliest Oligocene South American Land Mammal 'Age'. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 195: 229-259.
26. Foote, M. 1993. Discordance and concordance between morphological and taxonomic diversity. Paleobiology, 19: 185-204.
27. Forasiepi, A., Goin, F.J. and Tauber, A. 2004. Las especies de Arctodictis Mercerat, 1891 (Metatheria, Borhyaenidae), grandes carnivores de Mioceno de América del sue. Revista Española de Paleontología, 19: 1-22.
28. Hecht, M.K. 1975. The morphology and relationships of the largest known terrestrial lizard, Megalania prisca Owen, from the Pleistocene of Australia. Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, 87: 239-250.
29. Houle, A. 1998. Floating islands: a mode of long-distance dispersal for small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrates. Diversity and Distributions, 4: 201-216.
30. Johnson, D.D., MacDonald, D.W. and Dickman, A.J. 2000. An analysis and review of models of the sociobiology of the Mustelidae. Mammal Rev., 30: 171-196.
31. Jones, M.E. 1997. Character displacement in Australian dasyurid carnivores: size relationships and prey size patterns. Ecology, 78: 2569-2587.
32. Jones, M.E. 2003. Convergence in ecomorphology and guild structure among marsupial and placental carnivores. In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Marsupial Carnivores (M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer, eds.), pp. 285-296. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.
33. King, C.M. 1989. The advantages and disadvantages of small size to weasels, Mustela species. In Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution (J.L. Gittleman, ed.), pp. 302-334. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
34. Lillegraven, J.A. 1975. Biological considerations of the marsupial-placental dichotomy. Evolution, 29: 707-722.
35. Marshall, L.G. 1977. Evolution of the carnivorous adaptive zone in South America. In Major Patterns in Vertebrate Evolution (M.K. Hecht, P.C. Goody and B.M. Hecht, eds.), pp. 709-721. New York: Plenum Press.
36. Marshall, L.G. 1978. Evolution of the Borhyaenidae, extinct South American predaceous marsupials. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol. Sci., 117: 1-89.
37. Marshall, L.G. and Cifelli, R.L. 1990. Analysis of changing diversity patters in Cenozoic land mammal age faunas, South America. Palaeovertebrata, 19: 169-210.
38. Marshall, L.G., Webb, S.D., Sepkoski, J.J., Jr. and Raup, D.M. 1982. Mammalian evolution and the Great American Interchange. Science, 215: 1351-1357.
39. Myers, T., Crosby, K., Archer, M. and Tyler, M. 2001. The Encore Local Fauna, a late Miocene assemblage from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Mem. Assoc Austral. Palaeontol., 25: 147-154.
40. Oksanen, L. 1988. Ecosystem organization: mutualism and cybernetics or plain Darwinian struggle for existence? Am. Nat., 131: 424-444.
41. Patterson, B. and Pascual, R. 1968. The fossil mammal fauna of South America. Quart. Rev. Biol., 43: 409-451.
42. Reguero, M.A., Marenssi, S.A. and Santillana, S.N. 2002. Antarctic Peninsula and South America (Patagonia) Paleogene terrestrial faunas and environments: biogeographic relationships. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 179: 189-210.
43. Ricklefs, R.E. and Schluter, D., eds. 1993. Species Diversity in Ecological Communities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
44. Riggs, E. S. 1934. A new marsupial saber-tooth from the Pliocene of Argentina and its relationships to other South American predacious marsupials. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., 24: 1-32.
45. Rosenzweig, M.L. 1995. Species Diversity in Space and Time. New York: Cambridge University Press.
46. Scher, H.D. and Martin, E.E. 2006. Timing and climatic consequences of the opening of Drake Passage. Science, 312: 428-430.
47. Schluter, D. and Ricklefs, R.E. 1993. Species diversity; an introduction to the problem. In Species Diversity in Ecological Communities (R.E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter, eds.), pp. 1-10. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
48. Sears, K.E. 2004. Constraints on the morphological evolution of marsupial shoulder girdles. Evolution, 58: 2353-2370.
49. Simpson, G.G. 1950. History of the fauna of Latin America. Am. Sci., 38: 261-389.
50. Simpson, G.G. 1980. Splendid Isolation, the Curious History of South American Mammals. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
51. Sinclair, W.J. 1906. Mammalia of the Santa Cruz Beds. Vol. IV, Paleontology. Part III, Marsupialia. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899 (W.B. Scott, ed.), pp. 333-460. Stuttgart: Princeton University Press/E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung (E. Nägele).
52. Van Nievelt, A.F.H. and Smith, K.K. 2005. To replace or not to replace: the significance of reduced functional tooth replacement in marsupial and placental mammals. Paleobiology, 31: 324-346.
53. Van Valkenburgh, B. 1985. Locomotor diversity within past and present guilds of large predatory mammals. Paleobiology, 11: 406-428.
54. Van Valkenburgh, B. 1988. Trophic diversity in past and present guilds of large predatory mammals. Paleobiology, 14: 155-173.
55. Van Valkenburgh, B. 1989. Carnivore dental adaptations and diet: a study of trophic diversity within guilds. In Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution (J.L. Gittleman, ed.), pp. 410-436. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
56. Van Valkenburgh, B. and Janis, C.M. 1993. Historical diversity patterns in North American large herbivores and carnivores. In Species Diversity in Ecological Communities (R.E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter, eds.), pp. 330-340. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
57. Van Valkenburgh, B. and Molnar, R.E. 2002. Dinosaurian and mammalian predators compared. Paleobiology, 28: 527-543.
58. Vieira, E.M. and Astúa de Moraes, D. 2003. Carnivory and insectivory in Neotropical marsupials. In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Marsupial Carnivores (M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer, eds.), pp. 271-284. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.
59. Webb, S.D. 1976. Mammalian faunal dynamics of the great American interchange. Paleobiology, 2: 220-234.
60. Webb, S.D. 1978. A history of savanna vertebrates in the New World. Part II: South America and the Great Interchange. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 9: 393-426.
61. Webb, S.D. 1991. Ecogeography and the Great American Interchange. Paleobiology, 17: 266-280.
62. Werdelin, L. 1986. Comparison of skull shape in marsupial and placental carnivores. Austral. J. Zool., 34: 109-118.
63. Werdelin, L. 1987. Jaw geometry and molar morphology in marsupial carnivores: analysis of a constraint and its macroevolutionary consequences. Paleobiology, 13: 342-350.
64. Werdelin, L. 1988. Circumventing a constraint - the case of Thylacoleo (Marsupialia, Thylacoleonidae). Austral. J. Zool., 36: 565-571.
65. Wesley-Hunt, G.D. 2005. The morphological diversification of carnivores in North America. Paleobiology, 31: 35-55.
66. Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M., eds. 1993. Mammal Species of the World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
67. Wroe, S. 1996. An investigation of phylogeny in the giant extinct rat kangaroo Ekaltadeta (Propleopinae, Potoroidae, Marsupialia). J. Paleontol., 70: 681-690.
68. Wroe, S. 2002. A review of terrestrial mammalian and reptilian carnivore ecology in Australian fossil faunas, and factors influencing their diversity: the myth of reptilian domination and its broader ramifications. Austr. J. Zool., 50: 1-24.
69. Wroe, S. 2003. Australian marsupial carnivores: recent advances in paleontology. In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Marsupial Carnivores (M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer, eds.), pp. 102-123. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.
70. Wroe, S. 2004. Killer kangaroos and other murderous marsupials. Sci. Am., 14: 48-55.
71. Wroe, S., Brammall, J. and Cooke, B.N. 1998. The skull of Ekaltadeta ima (Marsupialia, Hypsiprymnodontidae?): an analysis of some marsupial cranial features and a re-investigation of propleopine phylogeny, with notes on the inference of carnivory in mammals. J. Paleontol., 72: 738-751.
72. Wroe, S., Argot, C. and Dickman, C. 2004. On the rarity of big, fierce carnivores and primacy of isolation and area: tracking large mammalian carnivore diversity on two isolated continents. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 271: 1203-1211.
73. Zar, J.H. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis, 2nd edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
74. Zittel, K.A. 1893. Handbuch der Palaeontologie, IV. Bd. Vertebrata (Mammalia). Munich: R. Oldenbourg.