Sukselainen Leena, Fortelius Mikael, Harrison Terry
Department Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
Department Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
J Hum Evol. 2015 Jul;84:25-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.009. Epub 2015 May 14.
Both pliopithecoid and hominoid primates were widely distributed throughout Eurasia during the Miocene but are known to have coexisted at only a few localities. It has been speculated that their different habitat preferences permitted only minimal overlap under special environmental conditions. Here we study the context for pliopithecoid and hominoid co-occurrence by assessing taxonomically-based palaeoecological diversity of associated fossil mammals and by direct ecometric analysis based on hypsodonty of mammalian herbivores. Our results show that pliopithecoids persistently inhabited more humid environments compared to the other primate groups studied, suggesting an inability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The opportunity for hominoids and pliopithecoids to co-occur appears to have been restricted by niche conservatism in the latter group. Our study also indicates that direct ecometric analysis gives a better separation of the ecological preferences of these primate clades than do analyses of taxonomically-based community structure.
在中新世期间，狭鼻猴类和类人猿灵长类动物都广泛分布于欧亚大陆，但已知它们仅在少数地区共存。据推测，它们不同的栖息地偏好使得在特殊环境条件下重叠程度极小。在这里，我们通过评估相关化石哺乳动物基于分类学的古生态多样性，以及基于食草哺乳动物高冠齿的直接生态计量分析，来研究狭鼻猴类和类人猿共存的背景。我们的结果表明，与所研究的其他灵长类群体相比，狭鼻猴类持续栖息在更潮湿的环境中，这表明它们无法适应不断变化的环境条件。类人猿和狭鼻猴类共存的机会似乎受到了后者生态位保守性的限制。我们的研究还表明，与基于分类学的群落结构分析相比，直接生态计量分析能更好地区分这些灵长类分支的生态偏好。
