Fig. 3: Family-specific diversification and diversity dynamics of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: Family-specific diversification and diversity dynamics of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.

From: Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures

Fig. 3

a, d, g, j, m, p Bayesian estimates of speciation (blue) and extinction (red) rates for each of the six dinosaur families. b, e, h, k, n, q The net diversification rate (speciation minus extinction) of the six non-avian dinosaur families becomes negative ~76 Ma (late Campanian) or ~72 Ma (early Maastrichtian). c, f, i, l, o, r The diversity (number of species) of all dinosaur families is in decline starting in the mid-late Campanian (~76 Ma). Hadrosaur diversity declines slowly compared to the other families. For each plot, solid lines indicate mean posterior rates, whereas the shaded areas show 95% CI. Reconstructions of diversity trajectories are replicated to incorporate uncertainties around the age of the fossil occurrences. Abbreviations as in Fig. 1. Dinosaur pictures courtesy of Fred Wierum (© Wikimedia Commons), Debivort (© Wikimedia Commons), and Jack Mayer Wood (© Wikimedia Commons): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Asteroid icon made by Fabien Condamine.

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