UMR CNRS 5125 Paléoenvironnements and Paléobiosphère, Université Claude Bernard Lyon-1, Campus de la Doua, Bâtiment GEODE-2, rue Raphaël Dubois, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Oct 22;277(1697):3105-12. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0523. Epub 2010 Jun 2.
The successful evolutionary radiations of European hominoids and pliopithecoids came to an end during the Late Miocene. Using ruminant diets as environmental proxies, it becomes possible to detect variations in vegetation over time with the potential to explain fluctuations in primate diversity along a NW-SE European transect. Analysis shows that ruminants had diverse diets when primate diversity reached its peak, with more grazers in eastern Europe and more browsers farther west. After the drop in primate diversity, grazers accounted for a greater part of western and central European communities. Eastwards, the converse trend was evident with more browsing ruminants. These opposite trends indicate habitat loss and an increase in environmental uniformity that may have severely favoured the decline of primate diversity.
欧洲原猴类和长臂猿的成功进化辐射在中新世晚期结束。利用反刍动物的饮食作为环境替代物，可以随着时间的推移检测到植被的变化，从而有可能解释沿西北-东南欧洲横切面上灵长类动物多样性的波动。分析表明，当灵长类动物多样性达到顶峰时，反刍动物的饮食种类繁多，东欧的食草动物较多，而更远的西部则有更多的食叶动物。灵长类动物多样性下降后，食草动物在西欧和中欧的群落中占了更大的比例。向东，情况则相反，食叶反刍动物较多。这些相反的趋势表明，栖息地的丧失和环境均匀性的增加可能严重地导致灵长类动物多样性的减少。
