Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24671970›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2014

Metabolic dominance of bivalves predates brachiopod diversity decline by more than 150 million years.

Jonathan L Payne, Noel A Heim, Matthew L Knope, Craig R McClain

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed.

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  4. Mid-Devonian ocean oxygenation enabled the expansion of animals into deeper-water habitats.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jonathan L PayneDepartment of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, , 450 Serra Mall, Building 320, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), , 2024 West Main St., Durham, NC 27705, USA.
Noel A Heim
Matthew L Knope
Craig R McClain

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brachiopods and bivalves feed in similar ways and have occupied the same environments through geological time, but brachiopods were far more diverse and abundant in the Palaeozoic whereas bivalves dominate the post-Palaeozoic, suggesting a transition in ecological dominance 250 Ma. However, diversity and abundance data alone may not adequately describe key changes in ecosystem function, such as metabolic activity. Here, we use newly compiled body size data for 6066 genera of bivalves and brachiopods to calculate metabolic rates and revisit this question from the perspective of energy use, finding that bivalves already accounted for a larger share of metabolic activity in Palaeozoic oceans. We also find that the metabolic activity of bivalves has increased by more than two orders of magnitude over this interval, whereas brachiopod metabolic activity has declined by more than 50%. Consequently, the increase in bivalve energy metabolism must have occurred via the acquisition of new food resources rather than through the displacement of brachiopods. The canonical view of a mid-Phanerozoic transition from brachiopod to bivalve dominance results from a focus on taxonomic diversity and numerical abundance as measures of ecological importance. From a metabolic perspective, the oceans have always belonged to the clams.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionEnergy MetabolismFossilsAnimalsBiodiversityBivalviaBody SizeEcosystemInvertebratesPaleontologycompetitioninvertebratemacroevolutionmetabolismpalaeoecologyPhanerozoic

Identifiers

PMID24671970
PMCPMC3996599

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.