Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T02:56:54.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trophic diversity in past and present guilds of large predatory mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Blaire Van Valkenburgh
Blaire Van Valkenburgh*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024-1606
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Trophic diversity within guilds of terrestrial predators is explored in three modern and two ancient communities. The modern communities span a range of environments including savannah, rainforest, and temperate forest. The paleocommunities are North American, Orellan (31–29 Ma), and late Hemphillian (7–6 Ma), respectively. The predator guilds are compared in terms of: 1) species richness; 2) the array of feeding types; and 3) the extent of morphological divergence among sympatric species. Feeding type is determined from dental measurements that reflect the proportion of meat, bone, and non-vertebrate foods in the diet. Measurements include estimates of canine shape, tooth size, cutting blade length, and grinding molar area. Morphological divergence among sympatric predators is measured by calculating Euclidean distances among species in a six-dimensional morphospace. Results indicate that the number of predator and prey species are roughly correlated in both ancient and modern communities. Two of the predator guilds, the late Hemphillian and modern Yellowstone, contain relatively few species and appear to be the result of extinction without replacement. Despite differences in history, age, and environment, the extent of morphological divergence within guilds does not differ significantly for the sampled communities. It is clear that the basic pattern of adaptive diversity in dental morphology among coexisting carnivores was established at least 32 million years ago. It appears that interspecific competition for food has acted similarly to produce adaptive divergence among sympatric predators in communities that differ widely in time, space, and taxonomic composition.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Spring 1988 , pp. 155 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Bakker, R. T. 1983. The deer flees, the wolf pursues: incongruencies in predator-prey coevolution. Pp. 350–383. In Futuyma, D. J. and Slatkin, M. (eds.), Coevolution. Sinauer Associates; Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Baskin, J. A. 1980. The generic status of Aeleurodon and Epicyon (Carnivora, Canidae). Journal of Paleontology 54: 1349–1351.Google Scholar
Baskin, J. A. 1981. Barbourofelis (Nimravidae) and Nimravides (Felidae) with a description of two new species from the late Miocene of Florida. Journal of Mammalogy 62: 122–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baskin, J. A. 1982. Tertiary Procyoninae (Mammalia: Carnivora) of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2: 71–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K., Western, D., and Boaz, D. D.. 1979. New perspectives in vertebrate paleoecology from a recent bone assemblage. Paleobiology 5: 12–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brain, C. K. 1981. The Hunters or the Hunted. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, Illinois. 365 pp.Google Scholar
Burt, W. H. 1931. Machaerodus catocopsis Cope from the Pliocene of Texas. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 20: 261–293.Google Scholar
Butterworth, E. M. 1916. A new mustelid from the Thousand Creek Pliocene of Nevada. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of the Geological Sciences 10: 21–24.Google Scholar
Clark, J., Beerbower, J. R., and Kietzke, K. K.. 1967. Oligocene sedimentation, stratigraphy, paleoecology and paleoclimatology in the Big Badlands of South Dakota. Fieldiana: Geological Memoirs 5: 1–158.Google Scholar
Coe, M. J., Cummings, D. H., and Phillipson, J.. 1976. Biomass and production of large African herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production. Oecologia 22: 341–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crusafont-Pairo, M. and Truyols-Santonja, J.. 1956. A biometric study of the evolution of fissiped carnivores. Evolution 10: 314–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crusafont-Pairo, M. and Truyols-Santonja, J.. 1957. Estudios masterometricos en la evolucion de los fissipedos. Boletin del Institute de Geologico y Minero España 68: 83–224.Google Scholar
Dalquest, W. W. 1969. Pliocene carnivores of the Coffee Ranch (type Hemphill) local fauna. Bulletin of the Texas Memorial Museum 15: 1–44.Google Scholar
Damuth, J. 1982. Analysis of the preservation of community structure in assemblages of fossil mammals. Paleobiology 8: 434–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, R. L. 1979. Interference competition among carnivores: a model for the evolution of social behavior. Carnivore 2: 9–16.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, J. F. 1981. The Mammalian Radiations. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, Illinois. 610 pp.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, J. F. and McKay, G. M.. 1974. Comparison of ungulate adaptations in the New World and Old World tropical rainforests with special reference to Ceylon and the rainforests of Central America. Pp. 585–602. In Geist, V. and Walther, F. (eds.), The Behavior of Ungulates and its Relation to Management. IUCN Publications, new series 24; Morges, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, J. F. and Seidensticker, J.. 1976. Ungulates in Southern Asia: a consideration of biomass estimates for selected habitats. Biological Conservation 10: 293–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewer, R. F. 1973. The Carnivores. Cornell University Press; Ithaca, New York. 494 pp.Google Scholar
Findley, J. S. 1976. The structure of bat communities. American Naturalist 110: 129–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gittleman, J. L. and Harvey, P. H.. 1982. Carnivore home-range size, metabolic needs and ecology. Behavior, Ecology and Sociobiology 10: 57–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gittleman, J. L. 1986. Carnivore life history patterns: allometric, phylogenetic and ecological associations. American Naturalist 127: 744–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, R. W. and Lundelius, E. L. Jr. 1984. Coevolutionary disequilibrium and Pleistocene extinctions. Pp. 223–249. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona Press; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Grant, P. and Schluter, D.. 1984. Interspecific competition inferred from patterns of guild structure. Pp. 201–233. In Strong, D. R. Jr., Simberloff, D., Abele, L. G., and Thistle, A. B. (eds.), Ecological Communities: Conceptual Issues and the Evidence. Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, J. T. 1971. Speculations on the significance of fossil vertebrates for the antiquity of the Great Plains of North America. Abhandlungen der Hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 60: 64–72.Google Scholar
Guilday, J. E. 1984. Pleistocene extinction and environmental change: case study of the Appalachians. Pp. 250–258. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona Press; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Hairston, N. G., Smith, F. E., and Slobodkin, L. B.. 1960. Community structure, population control and competition. American Naturalist 94: 421–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, E. R. 1946. A new genus of American Pliocene badger with remarks on the relationships of badgers of the Northern Hemisphere. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publications, Contributions to Paleontology 551: 9–23.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. A. 1981. A review of the extinct wolverine Plesiogulo (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from North America. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 46: 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, J. A. 1983. The Carnivora of the Edson local fauna (late Hemphillian), Kansas. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 54: 1–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatcher, J. B. 1895. Discovery in the Oligocene of South Dakota of Eusmilus, a genus of sabre-toothed cats new to North America. American Naturalist 29: 1091–1093.Google Scholar
Hendey, Q. B. 1974a. Faunal dating of the late Cenozoic of Southern Africa, with special reference to the Carnivora. Quaternary Research 4: 149–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendey, Q. B. 1974b. New fossil carnivores from the Swartkrans Australopithecine site (Mammalia: Carnivora). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 29: 27–47.Google Scholar
Hendey, Q. B. 1974c. The late Cenozoic Carnivora of the southwestern Cape province. Annals of the South African Museum 63: 1–369.Google Scholar
Hibbard, C. W. 1934. Two new genera of Felidae from the middle Pliocene of Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences 37: 239–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hough, J. 1948. A systematic revision of Daphoenus and some allied genera. Journal of Paleontology 22: 573–600.Google Scholar
Hough, J. 1949. The subspecies of Hoplophoneus. Journal of Paleontology 23: 536–555.Google Scholar
Hunt, R. M. 1974. Daphoenictis, a cat-like carnivore (Mammalia, Amphicyonidae) from the Oligocene of North America. Journal of Paleontology 48: 1030–1047.Google Scholar
Jaslow, C. R. 1987. Morphology and digestive efficiency of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and grey foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in relation to diet. Canadian Journal of Zoology 65: 72–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jepsen, G. L. 1933. American eusmiloid sabre tooth cats of the Oligocene epoch. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 72: 355–369.Google Scholar
Karr, J. G. and James, F. C.. 1975. Ecomorphological configurations and convergent evolution. Pp. 258–291. In Cody, M. L. and Diamond, J. M. (eds.), Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Belknap Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Kay, R. F. 1975. The functional adaptations of primate molar teeth. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 43: 195–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kitts, D. B. 1958. Nimravides, a new genus of Felidae from the Pliocene of California, Texas and Oklahoma. Journal of Mammalogy 39: 368–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtén, B. and Anderson, E.. 1980. Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Columbia University Press; New York, New York. 442 pp.Google Scholar
Lamprecht, J. 1981. The function of social hunting in larger terrestrial carnivores. Mammal Reviews 11: 169–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, E. B. 1969. Late Cenozoic palynology. Pp. 377–438. In Tschudy, R. H. and Scott, R. A. (eds.), Aspects of Palynology. Wiley-Interscience; New York, New York.Google Scholar
Martin, L. D. and Schultz, C. B.. 1975. Scimitar-toothed cats, Machairodus and Nimravides, from the Pliocene of Kansas and Nebraska. Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum 10: 55–63.Google Scholar
Martin, P. S. 1984. Prehistoric overkill: the global model. Pp. 354–403. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. 1901. Tertiary mammals of northeastern Colorado. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 1: 353–447.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. and Stirton, R. A.. 1930. Osteology and affinities of Borophagus. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 19: 171–217.Google Scholar
McDonald, J. N. 1984. The reordered North American selection regime and late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions. Pp. 404–439. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
McNab, B. K. 1971. On the ecological significance of Bergmann's rule. Ecology 52: 845–854.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellett, J. S. 1977. Paleobiology of North American Hyaenodon (Mammalia: Creodonta). Contributions to Vertebrate Evolution 1: 1–134. S. Karger; New York, New York.Google Scholar
Munthe, L. K. 1979. The skeleton of the Borophaginae: morphology and function. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley. 226 pp.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L. and James, H. F.. 1984. The role of Polynesians in the extinction of the avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Pp. 768–784. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Petter, G. 1969. Interpretation evolutive caractères de la denture des viverrides Africains. Mammalia 33: 607–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radinsky, L. B. 1982. Evolution of skull shape in carnivores. 3. The origin and early radiation of the modern carnivore families. Paleobiology 8: 177–195.Google Scholar
Retallack, G. 1983. Late Eocene and Oligocene paleosols from Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Geological Society of America Special Papers 193: 1–82.Google Scholar
Riggs, E. S. 1896. A new species of Dinictis from the White River Miocene of Wyoming. Kansas University Quarterly 4: 237–241.Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, M. L. 1966. Community structure in sympatric Carnivora. Journal of Mammalogy 47: 602–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenzweig, M. L. 1968. The strategy of body size in mammalian carnivores. American Midland Naturalist 80: 299–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savage, D. E. 1941. Two new middle Pliocene carnivores from Oklahoma with notes on the Optima fauna. American Midland Naturalist 25: 692–710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savage, D. E. and Russell, D. E.. 1983. Mammalian Paleofaunas of the World. Addison-Wesley; Reading, Massachusetts. 432 pp.Google Scholar
Savage, R. J. G. 1978. Carnivora. Pp. 249–267. In Maglio, V. J. and Cooke, H. B. S. (eds.), Evolution of African Mammals. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoener, T. W. 1974. Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science 185: 27–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, C. B. and Martin, L. D.. 1975. Bears (Ursidae) from the late Cenozoic of Nebraska. Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum 10: 47–54.Google Scholar
Schultz, G. B. 1977. The Ogallala formation and its vertebrate faunas in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Pp. 5–105. In Schultz, G. E. (ed.), Guidebook, Field Conference on Late Cenozoic Biostratigraphy of the Texas Panhandle and Adjacent Oklahoma, August 4–6, 1977. Kilgore Research Center Special Publication 1. West Texas State University; Canyon, Texas.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B. 1889. Notes on the osteology and systematic position of Dinictis felina, Leidy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia 41: 211–245.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B. 1913. A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere. Macmillan Press; New York. 786 pp.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B. and Jepsen, G.. 1941. The mammalian fauna of the White River Oligocene. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 28: 747–980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1941. The species of Hoplophoneus. American Museum Novitates 1123: 1–21.Google Scholar
Singler, C. R. and Picard, M. D.. 1981. Paleosols in the Oligocene of Northwest Nebraska. University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology 20: 57–68.Google Scholar
Sneath, P. H. A. and Sokal, R. R.. 1973. Numerical Taxomony. W. H. Freeman; San Francisco, California. 573 pp.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M., Van Valkenburgh, B., and Steneck, R. S.. 1983. Coevolution and the fossil record. Pp. 328–349. In Futuyma, D. J., and Slatkin, M. L. (eds.), Coevolution. Sinauer Associates; Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Swanson, F. J. 1987. Ecological effects of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. Pp. 1–2. In Bilderback, D. E. (ed.), Mount St. Helens 1980: Botanical Consequences of the Explosive Eruptions. University of California Press; Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Tedford, R. H., Galusha, T., Skinner, M. F., Taylor, B. E., Fields, R. W., MacDonald, J. R., Rensberger, J. M., Webb, S. D., and Whistler, D. P.. 1988. Faunal succession and biochronology of the Arikareean through Hemphillian interval (Late Oligocene through earliest Pliocene epochs), North America. Pp. 153–210. In Woodburne, M. O. (ed.), Cenozoic mammals of North America. University of California Press; Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1974. Multivariate structural statistics in natural history. Journal of Theoretical Biology 45: 235–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Valkenburgh, B. 1985. Locomotor diversity within past and present guilds of large predatory mammals. Paleobiology 11: 406–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Valkenburgh, B. 1988. Carnivore dental adaptations and diet: a study of trophic diversity within guilds. In press In Gittleman, J. L. (ed.), Carnivore Behavior, Ecology and Evolution. Cornell University Press; Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Van Valkenburgh, B. and Ruff, C. B.. 1987. Canine tooth strength and killing behaviour in large carnivores. Journal of Zoology 212: 1–19.Google Scholar
Verstappen, H. T. 1975. On palaeoclimates and landform development in Malesia. Pp. 3–36. In Bartstra, G. and Casparie, W. A. (eds.), Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia. A. A. Balkema; Rotterdam, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Voorhies, M. R. 1970. Sampling difficulties in reconstructing late Tertiary mammalian communities. Proceedings of the North American Paleontology Convention 1: 454–468.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1984. Extinction in hominid evolution. Pp. 119–152. In Nitecki, M. H. (ed.), Extinction. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Webb, S. D. 1977. A history of savannah vertebrates in the New World. Part 1: North America. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 8: 355–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, S. D. 1978. A history of savannah vertebrates in the New World. Part. 2: South America and the Great Interchange. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 9: 393–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, S. D. 1983. The rise and fall of the late Miocene ungulate fauna in North America. Pp. 267–306. In Nitecki, M. H. (ed.), Coevolution. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Webb, S. D. 1984. Ten million years of mammal extinction in North America. Pp. 189–210. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions. University of Arizona Press; Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. A. 1978. A paleobotanical interpretation of Tertiary climates in the northern hemisphere. American Scientist 66: 694–703.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. A. 1985. Distribution of major vegetational types in the Tertiary. Geophysical Monographs 32: 357–375.Google Scholar
Woodley, J. D., Chornesky, E. A., Clifford, P. A., Jackson, J. B. C., Kaufman, L. S., Knowlton, N. B., Lang, J. C., Pearson, M. P., Porter, J. W., Rooney, M. C., Rylaarsdam, K. W., Tunnicliffe, V. J., Wahle, C. M., Wulff, J. L., Curtis, A. S. G., Dallmeyer, M. D., Jupp, B. P., Koehl, M. A. R., Neigel, J., and Sides, E. M.. 1981. Hurricane Allen's impact on Jamaican coral reefs. Science 214: 749–755.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis, Second Edition. Prentice-Hall; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 718 pp.Google Scholar