Mammal miniaturisation during Paleogene hyperthermals: a new palaeodietary perspective

A repeated response to abrupt climate warming among vertebrates is body size reduction, which has been observed in response to anthropogenic climate change and to abrupt warming events in the geological record. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this size decrease among mammals, including range shifts of populations with geographically variable body size, as well as in situ evolutionary responses to environmental changes. In this talk, I will present findings of a new test of these hypotheses using a novel, multi-comparator approach to dental microwear texture analysis. The evidence favours a scenario of in situ ecological responses to changes in resource availability during a period of abrupt climate warming in the early Paleocene (ca. 62.3 Ma). The more rapid rate of modern climate and environmental change, compared to natural warming events in the Paleogene, leads us to question whether living mammals will be able to adapt quickly enough to avoid extinction without human intervention.

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