
Dinosaurs evolved much faster than previously thought - DrScump
http://news.sciencemag.org/paleontology/2015/12/dinosaurs-evolved-much-faster-previously-thought
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btilly
While this research is an important data point, it does not prove what they
claim. Things that look like ancestors of dinosaurs might not actually BE
ancestors of dinosaurs - they may have even existed at the same time!

This is not even a hard scenario to create. Perhaps changing sea levels
isolated an island where dinosaurs evolved. Then millions of years later the
sea levels dropped again, and dinosaurs immediately spread and out-competed
their relatives. Unless we were lucky enough to find that island, evolution
would look virtually instantaneous.

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throwaway2048
While the situation you identify isn't totally impossible it is fairly
unlikely.

Invasive/Disruptive species (those able to outcompete native species in
similar niches) in the modern world almost always come from larger landmasses.
Presumably this arises because they are exposed to more intense evolutionary
pressure from the larger amount of competitors/ecological niches present.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_introduced_species#Asi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_introduced_species#Asia)

see for instance, almost no problematic species introduced into asia, a few in
africa (although connected by land, the Sahara is a major barrier).

Note also, the almost total lack of island species in this list.

Although oweing to the large presence of europe in this list, this could be
largely documentation or selective human action issue.

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meric
Remember, in the era dinosaurs the arrangement of Earth's landmass was
radically different. Could it be possible where we've sampled the ancestors,
they were actually on the island and whose evolution slowed down, and then
later we discovered it's 'descendants' from the larger continent?

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throwaway2048
At the dawn of the Triassic and onwards to the early Cretaceous all the major
continents were part of Pangaea. So assuming we arn't relying on just a few
fossil beds to paint the picture, its virtually certain we are seeing the
large continent species.

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kenbellows
This brings to mind the concept of punctuated equilibrium. I only recently
came to really understand it when I read Bill Nye's _Undeniable_ (great read,
btw). It makes _so_ much sense and lends a much more intuitive feel to
articles like this one about species evolving rapidly because of intense
ecological pressures.

Science is fun!

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btilly
Punctuated equilibrium provides an explanation for why this could have
happened fast.

But it also provides an explanation for why this could _look_ like it happened
fast when it actually didn't.

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danieltillett
The speed of evolution is proportional to the population size so it is not
surprising given how common dinosaurs were and are (birds) that they have
evolved fast.

On this topic the most evolved species are some of the deep ocean bacteria
like prochlorococcus [1] with huge populations - these bacteria are like a
racing cars.

1\.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prochlorococcus](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prochlorococcus)

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pcunite
_" Dinosaurs evolved from their smaller ancestors in just a few million years
and not the 10 million years or more scientists had suspected ..."_

There are a lot more things that scientists are wrong about too. I look
forward to their future discoveries.

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dragandj
That sounds as if the scientists are wrong but someone else is right.

Although this is a truism (since science by default does not deal with
absolute truth) what makes you think that someone other is right, and how you
know that? Doesn't that also make you a scientist, since you discovered new
knowledge?

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kenbellows
I think the point was just that the more we investigate any given area of
science, the more we refine and overturn previously held ideas. I think the
GP's wording was a little hostile toward scientists in tone, but I also think
that may have been unintentional, based on the second sentence. Science is
constantly improving on current ideas, which is great! Let's keep doing it!

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guard-of-terra
Maybe because they laid eggs? More offspring, harder selection equals faster
evolution.

