Corals
Reconstructing the Dust Cycle in Deep Time: the Case of the Late Paleozoic Icehouse
October 31, 2016Soreghan, Gerilyn S., Nicholas G. Heavens, Linda A. Hinnov, Sarah M. Aciego, and Carl Simpson. “Reconstructing the dust cycle in deep time: The case of the late Paleozoic icehouse.” The Paleontological Society Papers 21 (2015): 83-120. Atmospheric dust constitutes particles <100 μm, or deposits thereof (continental or marine); dust includes...
Paleontological baselines for evaluating extinction risk in the modern oceans
April 17, 2015Seth Finnegan, Sean C. Anderson, Paul G. Harnik, Carl Simpson, Derek P. Tittensor, Jarrett E. Byrnes, Zoe V. Finkel, David R. Lindberg, Lee Hsiang Liow, Rowan Lockwood, Heike K. Lotze, Craig M. McClain, Jenny L. McGuire, Aaron O’Dea, John M. Pandolfi (2015) Paleontological baselines for evaluating extinction risk in the...
Species selection and the macroevolution of coral photosymbiosis and coloniality
April 14, 2015Simpson, C. 2013. Species selection and the macroevolution of coral photosymbiosis and coloniality. Evolution 67(6): 1607-1621 pdf Differences in the relative diversification rates of species with variant traits are known as species selection. Species selection can produce a macroevolutionary change in the frequencies of traits by changing the relative number...
Equatorial decline of reef corals during the last Pleistocene interglacial
April 13, 2015Kiessling, W., Simpson, C., Beck, B., Mewis, H. & Pandolfi, J. 2012. Equatorial decline of reef corals during the last Pleistocene interglacial. PNAS. 109(52): 21378-21383. doi:10.1073/pnas.1214037110 pdf The Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 125,000 y ago) resulted from rapid global warming and reached global mean temperatures exceeding those of today. The...
The evolutionary history of division of labour
April 10, 2015Simpson, C. 2012. The evolutionary history of division of labour. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279:116–121. pdf Functional specialization, or division of labour (DOL), of parts within organisms and colonies is common in most multi-cellular, colonial and social organisms, but it is far from ubiquitous. Several mechanisms...
Evolutionary diversification of reef corals--a comparison of the molecular and fossil records
April 7, 2015Simpson, C., Kiessling, W., Mewis, H., Baron-Szabo, R. C. & Müller, J. 2011. Evolutionary diversification of reef corals: a comparison of the molecular and fossil records. Evolution. 65(11) 3274–3284. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01365.x pdf Understanding historical patterns of diversity dynamics is of paramount importance for many evolutionary questions. The fossil record has...
On the potential for ocean acidification to be a general cause of ancient reef crises
April 4, 2015Kiessling, W. & Simpson, C. 2011 On the potential for ocean acidification to be a general cause of ancient reef crises. Global Change Biology. 17(1): 56 - 67. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02204.x pdf Anthropogenic rise in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere leads to global warming and acidification of the oceans....
The role of extinction in large-scale diversity-stability relationships
April 3, 2015Simpson, C. & Kiessling, W. 2010 The role of extinction in large-scale diversity-stability relationships. Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences 277(1686): 1451-1456. pdf More-diverse communities are thought to be ecologically stable because a greater number of ecological interactions among members allows for the increases in robustness and...
Reefs as Cradles of Evolution and Sources of Biodiversity in the Phanerozoic
April 3, 2015Kiessling, W., Simpson, C. & Foote, M. 2010 Reefs as Cradles of Evolution and Sources of Biodiversity in the Phanerozoic. Science 327(5962): 196-198. pdf Large-scale biodiversity gradients among environments and habitats are usually attributed to a complex array of ecological and evolutionary factors. We tested the evolutionary component of such...
How similar are branching networks in nature?
April 1, 2015Sánchez, J. A., Lasker, H. R., Zeng, W., Coluci, V. & Simpson, C. 2003 How similar are branching networks in nature? A view from the ocean: Caribbean gorgonian corals. Journal of Theoretical Biology 222, 135-138. pdf Tree-like branching networks are omnipresent in nature (eg Turcotte et al., 1998). Despite the...