Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 15 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5562, pp. 2062 - 2065
DOI: 10.1126/science.1068700
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Mammalian Dispersal at the Paleocene/Eocene Boundary

Gabriel J. Bowen,1* William C. Clyde,2 Paul L. Koch,1 Suyin Ting,34 John Alroy,5 Takehisa Tsubamoto,6 Yuanqing Wang,4 Yuan Wang4

A profound faunal reorganization occurred near the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, when several groups of mammals abruptly appeared on the Holarctic continents. To test the hypothesis that this event featured the dispersal of groups from Asia to North America and Europe, we used isotope stratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and quantitative biochronology to constrain the relative age of important Asian faunas. The extinct family Hyaenodontidae appeared in Asia before it did so in North America, and the modern orders Primates, Artiodactyla, and Perissodactyla first appeared in Asia at or before the Paleocene/Eocene boundary. These results are consistent with Asia being a center for early mammalian origination.

1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
2 Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3589, USA.
3 Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
4 Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Post Office Box 643, Beijing 100044, People's Republic of China.
5 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3351, USA.
6 Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gbowen{at}es.ucsc.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Paleogene paleosols and changes in pedogenesis during the initial Eocene thermal maximum: Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA.
P. D. White and J. Schiebout (2008)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, 1347-1361
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mechanisms of PETM global change constrained by a new record from central Utah.
G. J. Bowen and B. Beitler Bowen (2008)
Geology 36, 379-382
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The oldest North American primate and mammalian biogeography during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
K. C. Beard (2008)
PNAS 105, 3815-3818
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Late Palaeocene Early Eocene and Toarcian (Early Jurassic) carbon isotope excursions: a comparison of their time scales, associated environmental changes, causes and consequences.
A. S. Cohen, A. L. Coe, and D. B. Kemp (2007)
Journal of the Geological Society 164, 1093-1108
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Early Tertiary mammals from North Africa reinforce the molecular Afrotheria clade.
R. Tabuce, L. Marivaux, M. Adaci, M. Bensalah, J.-L. Hartenberger, M. Mahboubi, F. Mebrouk, P. Tafforeau, and J.-J. Jaeger (2007)
Proc R Soc B 274, 1159-1166
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Early African hyaenodontid mammals and their bearing on the origin of the Creodonta.
E. GHEERBRANT, M. IAROCHENE, M. AMAGHZAZ, and B. BOUYA (2006)
Geological Magazine 143, 475-489
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Post-Miocene expansion, colonization, and host switching drove speciation among extant nematodes of the archaic genus Trichinella.
D. S. Zarlenga, B. M. Rosenthal, G. La Rosa, E. Pozio, and E. P. Hoberg (2006)
PNAS 103, 7354-7359
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Transient Floral Change and Rapid Global Warming at the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary.
S. L. Wing, G. J. Harrington, F. A. Smith, J. I. Bloch, D. M. Boyer, and K. H. Freeman (2005)
Science 310, 993-996
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stem Lagomorpha and the Antiquity of Glires.
R. J. Asher, J. Meng, J. R. Wible, M. C. McKenna, G. W. Rougier, D. Dashzeveg, and M. J. Novacek (2005)
Science 307, 1091-1094
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Paleocene-Eocene carbon isotope excursion in organic carbon and pedogenic carbonate: Direct comparison in a continental stratigraphic section.
R. Magioncalda, C. Dupuis, T. Smith, E. Steurbaut, and P. D. Gingerich (2004)
Geology 32, 553-556
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular Phylogeny, Historical Biogeography, and Divergence Time Estimates for Swallowtail Butterflies of the Genus Papilio (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae).
E. V. Zakharov, M. S. Caterino, and F. A.H. Sperling (2004)
Syst Biol 53, 193-215
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeocene-Eocene paratropical floral change in North America: responses to climate change and plant immigration.
G. J. Harrington, GuyJ. Harrington, SimonJ. Kemp, and PaulL. Koch (2004)
Journal of the Geological Society 161, 173-184
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stratigraphic response and mammalian dispersal during initial India-Asia collision: Evidence from the Ghazij Formation, Balochistan, Pakistan.
W. C. Clyde, I. H. Khan, and P. D. Gingerich (2003)
Geology 31, 1097-1100
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sea-level, humidity, and land-erosion records across the initial Eocene thermal maximum from a continental-marine transect in northern Spain.
B. Schmitz and V. Pujalte (2003)
Geology 31, 689-692
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Grasping Primate Origins.
J. I. Bloch and D. M. Boyer (2002)
Science 298, 1606-1610
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)