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Computational Paleontology pp 53–74Cite as

Calculating the Tempo of Morphological Evolution: Rates of Discrete Character Change in a Phylogenetic Context

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Abstract

Paleontologists and biologists are often interested in the tempo of evolution: how fast or slow does evolution proceed? There are many separate components of evolution – the development and extinction of lineages, molecular change, and morphological transformation are three of the most general – and these may or may not be related to each other. Therefore, it is instructive to look at each of these separately (if possible), in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of evolutionary change. This chapter will focus specifically on morphological evolution: changes in size, shape, and discrete anatomical features and how rates of change can be calculated. Such calculations have a rich legacy in the macroevolution literature (e.g., Westoll 1949; Derstler 1982; Forey 1988; Cloutier 1991; Ruta et al. 2006; Brusatte et al. 2008a).

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Acknowledgements

I thank Ashraf Elewa for his invitation to contribute to this volume, Prof. Richard Reyment and Graeme Lloyd for their reviews, and my collaborators on various projects relating to morphological rates (Graeme Lloyd, Steve Wang, Mike Benton, and Marcello Ruta). For discussions regarding rates and Triassic archosaurs I think many people, most importantly Richard Butler, Michael Coates, Philip Donoghue, Mike Foote, Randall Irmis, Michael LaBarbera, Sterling Nesbitt, Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Mark Norell, Paul Olsen, Paul Sereno, Mark Siddall, and Ward Wheeler. My work on morphological rates and Triassic archosaurs has been funded by a Marshall Scholarship for study in the UK (University of Bristol) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (Columbia University), and specimen visits pertinent to this project were funded by the Paleontological Society, Jurassic Foundation, SYNTHESYS, and Bob Savage Memorial Fund (University of Bristol).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Paleontology American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, 10024, USA

    Stephen L. Brusatte

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Stephen L. Brusatte

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  1. Stephen L. Brusatte
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Correspondence to Stephen L. Brusatte .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Science, Dept. Geology, Minia University, Minia, 61519, Egypt

    Ashraf M.T. Elewa

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Brusatte, S.L. (2011). Calculating the Tempo of Morphological Evolution: Rates of Discrete Character Change in a Phylogenetic Context. In: Elewa, A. (eds) Computational Paleontology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16271-8_4

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