Fig2_Climate&EvolRates(Credit_TiagoSimoes).png (IMAGE)

Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Fig2_Climate&EvolRates(Credit_TiagoSimoes).png

Caption

Evolutionary response from reptiles to global warming and fast climatic changes. Rates of evolution (adaptive anatomical changes) in reptiles start increasing early in the Permian (at about 294 million years ago), which also marks the onset of the longest period of successive fast climatic shifts in the geological record. From 261 until 235 million years ago, increased global warming from massive volcanic eruption contributed to further climate change and led to the hottest period in Earth’s history. This resulted in two mass extinctions and the demise of reptile competitors on land (mammalian ancestors). The most intensive period of global warming coincided with the fastest rates of evolution in reptiles, marking the diversification of reptile body plans and the origin of modern reptile groups

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Figure by Tiago Simões

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