Rates of Evolution: Effects of Time and Temporal Scaling

1983/10/14 by Philip D. Gingerich · 8 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Plant and animal studies #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Animal Behavior and Reproduction

paper · doi:10.1126/science.222.4620.159

openalex publication_date 1983/10/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Rates of morphological evolution documented in laboratory selection experiments, historical colonization events, and the fossil record are inversely related to the interval of time over which they are measured. This inverse relationship is an artifact of comparing a narrow range of morphological variation over a wide range of time intervals, and it is also a product of time averaging. Rates measured over different intervals of time must be scaled against interval length before they can be compared.

Citations

• Evolutionary size increase and longevity in Jurassic bivalves and ammonites

Cited by

• The influence of thermoregulatory selection presures on hominid evolution
• Adaptive differentiation following experimental island colonization in Anolis lizards
• Strength and tempo of directional selection in the wild
• The scale independence of evolution
• Evolution of Acoustic Communication Signals of Mammals: Friendly Close-Range Vocalizations in Felidae (Carnivora)
• Evolutionary dynamics of the Permian–Triassic foraminifer size: Evidence for Lilliput effect in the end-Permian mass extinction and its aftermath
• Temporal shell-size variations of bivalves in South China from the Late Permian to the early Middle Triassic
• Rate of evolution [wikipedia]