气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): The awkward record of fossil whales

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DOI	10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.103057
	The awkward record of fossil whales
	Dominici S.; Danise S.; Cau S.; Freschi A.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	00128252
卷号	205
英文摘要	The habitat, actuopaleontology and global fossil record of crown cetaceans, today occupying apex positions in the marine ecosystem, is reviewed. A large Neogene-Quaternary dataset is built, covering the time span of the evolutionary radiation of crown Odontoceti and Mysticeti and including updated information on whale taxonomy, chronostratigraphy, geography, paleoenvironment, taphonomy and size. We outline an uneven chronostratigraphic and geographic distribution of fossils, which influences our understanding of global diversity trends. Notwithstanding the vast majority of whale carcasses sinks to bathyal depths, the fossil record is mainly associated with shelf paleoenvironments. The evolution of gigantic whales triggered the radiation of whale-fall communities, including a global bone-eating fauna that hampers the preservation of carcasses at bathyal depths. This “Osedax” effect may explain the unexpected distribution of the fossil record, particularly in the Pleistocene, when baleen whales became gigantic and the ecosystem engineers they are today. A review of the relative thickness of Pleistocene marine strata rules out artefacts of the rock record. The distribution of taphonomic grades suggests that the average skeletal completeness decreases during the Neogene and Quaternary, consistently with an increased efficiency of bioeroders. The frequency of complete and articulated skeletons is time-independent, suggesting a control by sedimentation rates. Quality of the record is expected to improve particularly from taxonomic studies dedicated to the rich, but unexplored South american record, documenting the record of little known productive regions, such as Africa, the Arctic and Antarctica, and the taphonomy and stratigraphic paleobiology of old and new findings. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
英文关键词	chronostratigraphy; fossil record; marine ecosystem; Neogene; paleobiology; paleoenvironment; Quaternary; taphonomy; taxonomy; whale; Cetacea; Mysticeti; Odontoceti
语种	英语
来源期刊	Earth Science Reviews
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/203690
作者单位	Museo di Storia Naturale, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Dominici S.,Danise S.,Cau S.,et al. The awkward record of fossil whales[J],2020,205.
APA	Dominici S.,Danise S.,Cau S.,&Freschi A..(2020).The awkward record of fossil whales.Earth Science Reviews,205.
MLA	Dominici S.,et al."The awkward record of fossil whales".Earth Science Reviews 205(2020).