After more than one hundred fifty years of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Darwin, scientists are still arguing on the relative importance of mutation and natural selection, on the driving force of orga...After more than one hundred fifty years of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Darwin, scientists are still arguing on the relative importance of mutation and natural selection, on the driving force of organismal evolution, on microevo- lution and macroevolution, etc. Such periodically repeated debates appeared to have introduced more chaos than musings. What happened and why？ Have we really considered our views, opinions and arguments under the big picture of evolution before pos- ing the questions？ Or are we talking past each other？ We do need some reflections. While we believe that the current evolutionary theory is doing fine, perhaps a refinement or re-encapsulation of its knowledge framework can help promote a better understanding of the evolutionary science as a whole and blow offthe mist over the big picture [Current Zoology 61 （1）： 217-220, 2015 ].展开更多
Eospirifer,the oldest known genus of the spiriferide group(Brachiopoda),first appeared on the Zhe-Gan Platform of South China paleoplate during late Katian(Late Ordovician) represented by E.praecursor.It survived the ...Eospirifer,the oldest known genus of the spiriferide group(Brachiopoda),first appeared on the Zhe-Gan Platform of South China paleoplate during late Katian(Late Ordovician) represented by E.praecursor.It survived the end-Ordovician mass extinction,and reappeared on the Upper Yangtze Platform of South China paleoplate by the end of Ordovician near the upper part of the Normalograptus persculptus Biozone.Starting from the beginning of Silurian,Eospirifer experienced some morphological innovations and expanded its geographical distribution substantially.It reached its species diversity acme and the widest geographic distribution in Wenlock(middle Silurian),with the diversity hotspots in Laurentia,Avalonia,and Baltica.Various shell size frequency curves of E.praecursor under different paleogeographic settings suggest that this pioneer species of Eospirifer,with several macroevolutionary novelties,adopted a range of life strategies to adapt to the changing environments during early spiriferide evolution.There are also some morphological macroevolutionary trends during the evolutionary history of Eospirifer from Late Ordovician to the end of Silurian,such as the ever enlarging shell sizes and the width/length ratios from late Katian to Wenlock,but decreasing apparently of both parameters from Wenlock to Pridoli.展开更多
文摘After more than one hundred fifty years of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Darwin, scientists are still arguing on the relative importance of mutation and natural selection, on the driving force of organismal evolution, on microevo- lution and macroevolution, etc. Such periodically repeated debates appeared to have introduced more chaos than musings. What happened and why？ Have we really considered our views, opinions and arguments under the big picture of evolution before pos- ing the questions？ Or are we talking past each other？ We do need some reflections. While we believe that the current evolutionary theory is doing fine, perhaps a refinement or re-encapsulation of its knowledge framework can help promote a better understanding of the evolutionary science as a whole and blow offthe mist over the big picture [Current Zoology 61 （1）： 217-220, 2015 ].
基金supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-Q05-01)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No. 40825006)the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams and the State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy
文摘Eospirifer,the oldest known genus of the spiriferide group(Brachiopoda),first appeared on the Zhe-Gan Platform of South China paleoplate during late Katian(Late Ordovician) represented by E.praecursor.It survived the end-Ordovician mass extinction,and reappeared on the Upper Yangtze Platform of South China paleoplate by the end of Ordovician near the upper part of the Normalograptus persculptus Biozone.Starting from the beginning of Silurian,Eospirifer experienced some morphological innovations and expanded its geographical distribution substantially.It reached its species diversity acme and the widest geographic distribution in Wenlock(middle Silurian),with the diversity hotspots in Laurentia,Avalonia,and Baltica.Various shell size frequency curves of E.praecursor under different paleogeographic settings suggest that this pioneer species of Eospirifer,with several macroevolutionary novelties,adopted a range of life strategies to adapt to the changing environments during early spiriferide evolution.There are also some morphological macroevolutionary trends during the evolutionary history of Eospirifer from Late Ordovician to the end of Silurian,such as the ever enlarging shell sizes and the width/length ratios from late Katian to Wenlock,but decreasing apparently of both parameters from Wenlock to Pridoli.
