The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals

Felisa Smith; Alison Boyer; James Brown; Daniel Costa; Tamar Dayan; S Ernest; Alistair Evans; Mikael Fortelius; John Gittleman; Marcus Hamilton; Larisa Harding; Kari Lintaakso; Kathleen Lyons; Christy McCain; Jordan Okie; Juha Saarinen; Richard Sibly; Patrick Stephens; Jessica Theodor; Mark Uhen

doi:10.1126/science.1194830

The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals

Felisa Smith, Alison Boyer, James Brown, Daniel Costa, Tamar Dayan, S Ernest, Alistair Evans, Mikael Fortelius, John Gittleman, Marcus Hamilton, Larisa Harding, Kari Lintaakso, Kathleen Lyons, Christy McCain, Jordan Okie, Juha Saarinen, Richard Sibly, Patrick Stephens, Jessica Theodor, Mark Uhen

School of Biological Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

165 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On each continent, the maximum size of mammals leveled off after 40 million years ago and thereafter remained approximately constant.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1216 - 1219
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	330
Issue number	6008
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1194830
Publication status	Published - 2010

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Smith, F., Boyer, A., Brown, J., Costa, D., Dayan, T., Ernest, S., Evans, A., Fortelius, M., Gittleman, J., Hamilton, M., Harding, L., Lintaakso, K., Lyons, K., McCain, C., Okie, J., Saarinen, J., Sibly, R., Stephens, P., Theodor, J., & Uhen, M. (2010). The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals. Science, 330(6008), 1216 - 1219. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1194830

Smith, Felisa ; Boyer, Alison ; Brown, James ; Costa, Daniel ; Dayan, Tamar ; Ernest, S ; Evans, Alistair ; Fortelius, Mikael ; Gittleman, John ; Hamilton, Marcus ; Harding, Larisa ; Lintaakso, Kari ; Lyons, Kathleen ; McCain, Christy ; Okie, Jordan ; Saarinen, Juha ; Sibly, Richard ; Stephens, Patrick ; Theodor, Jessica ; Uhen, Mark. / The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals. In: Science. 2010 ; Vol. 330, No. 6008. pp. 1216 - 1219.

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title = "The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals",

abstract = "The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On each continent, the maximum size of mammals leveled off after 40 million years ago and thereafter remained approximately constant.",

author = "Felisa Smith and Alison Boyer and James Brown and Daniel Costa and Tamar Dayan and S Ernest and Alistair Evans and Mikael Fortelius and John Gittleman and Marcus Hamilton and Larisa Harding and Kari Lintaakso and Kathleen Lyons and Christy McCain and Jordan Okie and Juha Saarinen and Richard Sibly and Patrick Stephens and Jessica Theodor and Mark Uhen",

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Smith, F, Boyer, A, Brown, J, Costa, D, Dayan, T, Ernest, S, Evans, A, Fortelius, M, Gittleman, J, Hamilton, M, Harding, L, Lintaakso, K, Lyons, K, McCain, C, Okie, J, Saarinen, J, Sibly, R, Stephens, P, Theodor, J & Uhen, M 2010, 'The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals', Science, vol. 330, no. 6008, pp. 1216 - 1219. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1194830

The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals. / Smith, Felisa; Boyer, Alison; Brown, James; Costa, Daniel; Dayan, Tamar; Ernest, S; Evans, Alistair; Fortelius, Mikael; Gittleman, John; Hamilton, Marcus; Harding, Larisa; Lintaakso, Kari; Lyons, Kathleen; McCain, Christy; Okie, Jordan; Saarinen, Juha; Sibly, Richard; Stephens, Patrick; Theodor, Jessica; Uhen, Mark.

In: Science, Vol. 330, No. 6008, 2010, p. 1216 - 1219.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

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AU - Boyer, Alison

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AU - Costa, Daniel

AU - Dayan, Tamar

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AU - Evans, Alistair

AU - Fortelius, Mikael

AU - Gittleman, John

AU - Hamilton, Marcus

AU - Harding, Larisa

AU - Lintaakso, Kari

AU - Lyons, Kathleen

AU - McCain, Christy

AU - Okie, Jordan

AU - Saarinen, Juha

AU - Sibly, Richard

AU - Stephens, Patrick

AU - Theodor, Jessica

AU - Uhen, Mark

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UR - http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6008/1216.full.pdf

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DO - 10.1126/science.1194830

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