Data for Heim et al. 2017 Proc B paper: Hierarchical complexity and the size limits of life
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Over the past 3.8 billion years, the maximum size of living organisms has increased by approximately 18 orders of magnitude. Much of this increase is associated with two major evolutionary innovations: the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotic cells ~ 1.9 billion years ago (Ga), and multicellular life diversifying from unicellular ancestors ~ 0.6 Ga. However, the quantitative relationship between organismal size and structural complexity remains poorly documented. We assessed this relationship using a comprehensive dataset that includes organismal size and level of biological complexity for 11,172 extant genera. We find that the distributions of sizes within complexity levels are unimodal whereas the aggregate distribution is multimodal. Moreover, both the mean size and the range of size occupied increases with each additional level of vertical complexity. Interestingly, the increase in size range is non-symmetric; the maximum organismal size increases more than the minimum. The majority of the observed increase in organismal size over the Geozoic is accounted for by two discrete jumps in complexity rather than evolutionary trends within levels of complexity. Our results provide quantitative support for an evolutionary expansion away from a minimal size constraint and suggest a fundamental rescaling of the constrains on maximal size as biological complexity increases.
Description
| Type of resource | software, multimedia |
|---|---|
| Date created | [ca. May 12, 2017] |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Heim, Noel A. | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Payne, Jonathan L. | |
| Author | Finnegan, Seth | |
| Author | Knope, Matthew L. | |
| Author | Kowalewski, Michał | |
| Author | Lyons, S. Kathleen | |
| Author | McShea, Daniel W. | |
| Author | Novack-Gottshall, Philip M. | |
| Author | Smith, Felisa A. | |
| Author | Wang, Steve C. |
Subjects
| Subject | body size |
|---|---|
| Subject | evolution |
| Subject | hierarchy |
| Subject | complexity |
| Subject | macroecology |
| Subject | macroevolution |
| Genre | Dataset |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Heim, N.A., J.L. Payne, S. Finnegan, M.L. Knope, M. Kowalewski, S.K. Lyons, D.W. McShea, P.M. Novack-Gottshall, Smith, F.A., and S.C. Wang. 2017. Hierarchical complexity and the size limits of life. Proceedings of Royal Society of London B 284:20171039. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1039
Collection
Payne Paleobiology Lab Data Files
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- Contact
- naheim@stanford.edu
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