title: K-Pg events facilitated lineage transitions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
abstract: We use dated phylogenetic trees for tetrapod vertebrates to identify lineages that shifted between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in terms of feeding or development, and to assess the timing of such events. Both stem and crown lineage ages indicate a peak in transition events in correspondence with the K-Pg mass extinction. This meets the prediction that changes in competitive pressure and resource availability following mass extinction events should facilitate such transitions.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Geography, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, PO Box X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link 1410, Brunei Darussalam setapion@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Serban
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Procheş
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link 1410, Brunei Darussalam.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Polgar
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link 1410, Brunei Darussalam.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D010802:Phylogeny; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000145:classification*
keywords: K-Pg extinctions; realm transitions; tetrapod vertebrates