The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Key innovations and the ecology of macroevolution
Abstract
The origin or evolutionary `success' of taxa is often attributed to key innovations-aspects of organismal phenotype that promote diversification. Different ways of delimiting taxa and measuring `success' (i.e. number or longevity of species, morphological variety or differential control of energy) give rise to different ideas of how key innovations might operate. Key innovations may enhance competitive ability, relax adaptive trade-offs or permit exploitation of a new productive resource base. Recent key innovation studies comparing species richness in extant sister clades may miss important observations possible only with consideration of the fossil record, traditional higher taxa and phenotypic diversity.
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“Key innovations have commonly been identified by diversification of the clade possessing the innovation [8–10], but despite the continuing enthusiasm for key innovations, such claims have proved difficult if not impossible to test [11,12].”
From Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life (2015) · cites this paper as [10]
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hunter, J. P.
- Corresponding author
- Hunter, John P
- ORCID
- Hunter, John P
- Venue
- Trends in Ecology & Evolution
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1998-01
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 31-36
- ISSN
- 0169-5347 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025357952
- Cited by
- 340
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 1.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Trends in Ecology & Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Plant Diversity and Evolution
- Keywords
- key innovations, macroevolution, diversification, species richness, sister clade, fossil record, adaptive trade-offs, competitive ability, phenotypic diversity, energy control
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