Question

Explain the role of climate fluctuations in the origins and evolution of the first true primates, the earliest anthropoids, the early Miocene "dental apes" (proconsulids), and the surviving ape species of the late Miocene.

Hint Focus on the ways that warming and cooling episodes affected habitable land areas, caused habitat changes, and affected availability of different food sources.

Answer 1

Climatic change has played an important role in primate evolution for at least the last 66 million years. It has been an important driver in biogeography and the expanding and contracting ranges of different primate radiations, as well as in the abundance and diversity of primates in different ecosystems. It has been important in driving speciation and extinction events, and the turnover of species. Climatic change may also be the driving force behind some of the specific adaptations of individual primate lineages.

The relationship between climatic change and primate evolution is intimate, complex, and multifaceted. Climatic change has been a factor in nearly all aspects of primate evolution. It is implicated in everything, from the special adaptations of individual primate populations and lineages, to the rise, fall, and replacement of different radiations, to overall levels of diversity, to biogeography and the broad patterns of primate distribution, diversity, and occurrence. While there are many exceptions, most primates feed on some combination of fruits, leaves, and insects,andaredependentonforestorwoodland ecosystems for their survival. Climate and the local conditions that result from it, such as temperatures, rainfall, and seasonality, all affect the ranges, distributions, and seasonal availability of these resources, and, in turn, those of primate species. For example, during periods of global warming, the tropical forest biome tends to expand and the Earth’s major biomes, including those that primates rely on, tend to shift away from the equator and toward the poles, whereas during cooling periods, they tend to shift towards the equator and there is a general reduction in tropical forest biomes.