In the new study, scientists created a simulation where seed and fruit size increased as a response to the darker forest understory that followed dinosaur extinctions, matching actual seed size trends in the past 65 million years.
The model incorporated recent knowledge of how large animals affect forest structure, how seeds grow into seedlings and saplings, and how animal size has changed over time.
"Our model predicted these animals would open the forest enough that sufficient light began to enter the understory, and larger seeds were no longer successful over smaller seeds,” Dr Doughty explained.
The extinction of dinosaurs about 65 million years ago helped create an environment where fruits could thrive, leading to the evolution of primates, a new study has found.
“At first glance, the darker forest understory caused by dinosaur extinctions may seem unimportant, but it could have directly led to the evolution of our fruit-eating primate ancestors," study co-author Christopher Doughty said.
