Data from: When should we expect early bursts of trait evolution in comparative data? Predictions from an evolutionary food web model

We find that when foraging trade-offs result in food webs where all species occupy integer trophic levels, lineage diversity and trait disparity are concentrated early in the tree, consistent with the early burst model. In contrast, in food webs in which many omnivorous species feeding at multiple trophic levels, high levels of turnover of species' identities and traits tends to eliminate the early burst signal. These results suggest testable predictions about how the niche structure of ecological communities may be reflected by macroevolutionary patterns.

Usage notes simulation_data Parameter values and summary data for each of the 240 food webs simulated using the evolutionary assembly model and analyzed in the present paper and in Ingram et al. (2009).