Penny David, Phillips Matthew J
Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 Oct;19(10):516-22. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.07.015.
It is a basis of darwinian evolution that the microevolutionary mechanisms that can be studied in the present are sufficient to account for macroevolution. However, this idea needs to be tested explicitly, as highlighted here by the example of the superceding of dinosaurs and pterosaurs by birds and placental mammals that occurred near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary approximately 65 million years ago. A major problem for testing the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes is that independent ideas (such as the existence of an extraterrestrial impact, and the extinction of dinosaurs) were linked without the evidence for each idea being evaluated separately. Here, we suggest and discuss five testable models for the times and divergences of modern mammals and birds. Determination of the model that best represents these events will enable the role of microevolutionary mechanisms to be evaluated. The question of the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes for macroevolution is solvable, and available evidence supports an important role for biological processes in the initial decline of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
达尔文进化论的一个基础是，当下能够研究的微进化机制足以解释宏观进化。然而，正如这里以大约6500万年前白垩纪/第三纪边界附近鸟类和胎盘哺乳动物取代恐龙和翼龙为例所强调的那样，这一观点需要进行明确检验。检验微进化过程是否充分的一个主要问题是，一些独立的观点（如外星撞击的存在以及恐龙的灭绝）被联系在一起，而没有对每个观点的证据进行单独评估。在这里，我们提出并讨论了关于现代哺乳动物和鸟类的出现时间及分化的五个可检验模型。确定最能代表这些事件的模型将有助于评估微进化机制的作用。微进化过程对于宏观进化是否充分的问题是可以解决的，现有证据支持生物过程在恐龙和翼龙最初衰落中发挥了重要作用。
