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Experimental and Fossil Evidence for the Evolution of Tetrapod Bioenergetics

1975; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-642-87810-7_21

2196-971X

Robert T. Bakker,

Genetic diversity and population structure

Tetrapod evolution is the story of the interaction of individuals and populations with their primary producers, competitors, prey, and predators, all armed with various levels of metabolism and thermoregulatory mechanisms, within the environmental context of continents constantly fragmenting and coalescing as lithospheric plates rift, collide, or glide past one another, throwing up mountain ranges and continually changing the pattern of continental climates. The fossil record gives direct evidence of bioenergetic strategies in extinct organisms: functional morphology can identify adaptations for respiration, locomotor activity, and food processing; community paleoecology can interpret predator—prey ratios as gauges of the rate of energy consumption by the predators. Climate also leaves its mark in the rocks: cycles of wind, rainfall, and temperature govern the texture and geometry of sediments, the oxidation state of iron compounds, and the character of clay minerals.