An Analysis of the History of Marine Animal Diversity

Paleobiology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (sp6) ◽  
pp. 1-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Marine Animal ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
History Of

Memoir 4: An Analysis of the History of Marine Animal Diversity

Paleobiology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (S4) ◽  
pp. 1-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Background Rate ◽  
High Background ◽  
Exponential Increase ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
Marine Diversity ◽  
History Of

According to when they attained high diversity, major taxa of marine animals have been clustered into three groups, the Cambrian, Paleozoic, and Modern Faunas. Because the Cambrian Fauna was a relatively minor component of the total fauna after mid-Ordovician time, the Phanerozoic history of marine animal diversity is largely a matter of the fates of the Paleozoic and Modern Faunas. The fact that most late Cenozoic genera belong to taxa that have been radiating for tens of millions of years indicates that the post-Paleozoic increase in diversity indicated by fossil data is real, rather than an artifact of improvement of the fossil record toward the present.Assuming that ecological crowding produced the so-called Paleozoic plateau for family diversity, various workers have used the logistic equation of ecology to model marine animal diversification as damped exponential increase. Several lines of evidence indicate that this procedure is inappropriate. A plot of the diversity of marine animal genera through time provides better resolution than the plot for families and has a more jagged appearance. Generic diversity generally increased rapidly during the Paleozoic, except when set back by pulses of mass extinction. In fact, an analysis of the history of the Paleozoic Fauna during the Paleozoic Era reveals no general correlation between rate of increase for this fauna and total marine animal diversity. Furthermore, realistically scaled logistic simulations do not mimic the empirical pattern. In addition, it is difficult to imagine how some fixed limit for diversity could have persisted throughout the Paleozoic Era, when the ecological structure of the marine ecosystem was constantly changing. More fundamentally, the basic idea that competition can set a limit for marine animal diversity is incompatible with basic tenets of marine ecology: predation, disturbance, and vagaries of recruitment determine local population sizes for most marine species. Sparseness of predators probably played a larger role than weak competition in elevating rates of diversification during the initial (Ordovician) radiation of marine animals and during recoveries from mass extinctions. A plot of diversification against total diversity for these intervals yields a band of points above the one representing background intervals, and yet this band also displays no significant trend (if the two earliest intervals of the initial Ordovician are excluded as times of exceptional evolutionary innovation). Thus, a distinctive structure characterized the marine ecosystem during intervals of evolutionary radiation—one in which rates of diversification were exceptionally high and yet increases in diversity did not depress rates of diversification.Particular marine taxa exhibit background rates of origination and extinction that rank similarly when compared with those of other taxa. Rates are correlated in this way because certain heritable traits influence probability of speciation and probability of extinction in similar ways. Background rates of origination and extinction were depressed during the late Paleozoic ice age for all major marine invertebrate taxa, but remained correlated. Also, taxa with relatively high background rates of extinction experienced exceptionally heavy losses during biotic crises because background rates of extinction were intensified in a multiplicative manner; decimation of a large group of taxa of this kind in the two Permian mass extinctions established their collective identity as the Paleozoic Fauna.Characteristic rates of origination and extinction for major taxa persisted from Paleozoic into post-Paleozoic time. Because of the causal linkage between rates of origination and extinction, pulses of extinction tended to drag down overall rates of origination as well as overall rates of extinction by preferentially eliminating higher taxa having relatively high background rates of extinction. This extinction/origination ratchet depressed turnover rates for the residual Paleozoic Fauna during the Mesozoic Era. A decline of this fauna's extinction rate to approximately that of the Modern Fauna accounts for the nearly equal fractional losses experienced by the two faunas in the terminal Cretaceous mass extinction.Viewed arithmetically, the fossil record indicates slow diversification for the Modern Fauna during Paleozoic time, followed by much more rapid expansion during Mesozoic and Cenozoic time. When viewed more appropriately as depicting geometric—or exponential—increase, however, the empirical pattern exhibits no fundamental secular change: the background rate of increase for the Modern Fauna—the fauna that dominated post-Paleozoic marine diversity—simply persisted, reflecting the intrinsic origination and extinction rates of constituent taxa. Persistence of this overall background rate supports other evidence that the empirical record of diversification for marine animal life since Paleozoic time represents actual exponential increase. This enduring rate makes it unnecessary to invoke environmental change to explain the post-Paleozoic increase of marine diversity.Because of the resilience of intrinsic rates, an empirically based simulation that entails intervals of exponential increase for the Paleozoic and Modern Faunas, punctuated by mass extinctions, yields a pattern that is remarkably similar to the empirical pattern. It follows that marine animal genera and species will continue to diversify exponentially long into the future, barring disruption of the marine ecosystem by human-induced or natural environmental changes.

Phanerozoic trends in the global geographic disparity of marine biotas

Paleobiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold I. Miller ◽  
Devin P. Buick ◽  
Katherine V. Bulinski ◽  
Chad A. Ferguson ◽  
Austin J. W. Hendy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Distance ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Geographic Disparity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of

Previous analyses of the history of Phanerozoic marine biodiversity suggested that the post-Paleozoic increase observed at the family level and below was caused, in part, by an increase in global provinciality associated with the breakup of Pangea. Efforts to characterize the Phanerozoic history of provinciality, however, have been compromised by interval-to-interval variations in the methods and standards used by researchers to calibrate the number of provinces. With the development of comprehensive, occurrence-based data repositories such as the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB), it is now possible to analyze directly the degree of global compositional disparity as a function of geographic distance (geo-disparity) and changes thereof throughout the history of marine animal life. Here, we present a protocol for assessing the Phanerozoic history of geo-disparity, and we apply it to stratigraphic bins arrayed throughout the Phanerozoic for which data were accessed from the PaleoDB. Our analyses provide no indication of a secular Phanerozoic increase in geo-disparity. Furthermore, fundamental characteristics of geo-disparity may have changed from era to era in concert with changes to marine venues, although these patterns will require further scrutiny in future investigations.

Macroevolution and megaclimate: revealing the domains of the Court Jester and biotic equilibration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrej Spiridonov ◽  
Shaun Lovejoy
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Scaling Exponent ◽  
Causal Connection ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Random Forces ◽  
Scale Temperature ◽  
Animal Diversity

<p>The fundamental question of the biodiversity dynamics field is whether global diversity of organisms is driven by multiple random forces resulting in unsteady pattern or is it constrained by sufficiently strong biotic interactions. The first set of hypotheses is combined under the umbrella of the “Court Jester”, reflecting non-steady nature of the process. The latter set of hypotheses is sometimes combined under the header of the “Red Queen”, an epitomization of perpetual change at constant equilibrium diversity level. Based on the Haar fluctuation analyses of the classical Sepkoski database and Paleobiology Database occurrence based biodiversity data, it was revealed that both datasets show that marine animal genus level diversity is characterized by the two regimes.  The first, up to time scales of 30 to 40 Myrs, has a positive scaling exponent implying that fluctuations diverging with time scale i.e. behaviour like the Court Jester that is apparently unstable. The second regime, at longer time scales has a negative fluctuation exponent so that on average anomalies converge, the system is appears stable: a biodiversity regulating Red Queen regime. The smaller scale diverging regime (unstable) is characterized by nearly the same scaling exponent as megaclimate paleotemperatures, suggests a causal connection with diversity.</p><p>To investigate this further, we use a new multi-scale Haar fluctuation correlation analysis to quantify the scale by scale correlations.   We found a persistent trend of increasing correlation of macroevolutionary rates with the surface water temperatures with increasing time scales. At the same time, the diversity shows increasingly negative correlations with the temperatures at longer time scales, which suggest that positive largest scale temperature fluctuations although increased biotic turnover had a regulating effect on the global marine animal diversity levels.</p><p>Based on the consideration of dominant processes at the longest time scales we propose that the equilibration of biota is a result of continuous geodispersal and consequently mixing and competition of regional biotas, which becomes increasingly more likely on the deca-million-year time scales.</p><p>We conclude that the Earth system processes play a significant role in driving both diverging and equilibrating global biodiversity regimes: both Court Jester and Red Queen regimes may operate, with the former dominant up to ≈ 40 Myrs, and the latter at longer time scales.</p>

scholarly journals Linking dimensions of data on global marine animal diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1814) ◽  
pp. 20190445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Webb ◽  
Bart Vanhoorne
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
Marine Diversity

Recent decades have seen an explosion in the amount of data available on all aspects of biodiversity, which has led to data-driven approaches to understand how and why diversity varies in time and space. Global repositories facilitate access to various classes of species-level data including biogeography, genetics and conservation status, which are in turn required to study different dimensions of diversity. Ensuring that these different data sources are interoperable is a challenge as we aim to create synthetic data products to monitor the state of the world's biodiversity. One way to approach this is to link data of different classes, and to inventory the availability of data across multiple sources. Here, we use a comprehensive list of more than 200 000 marine animal species, and quantify the availability of data on geographical occurrences, genetic sequences, conservation assessments and DNA barcodes across all phyla and broad functional groups. This reveals a very uneven picture: 44% of species are represented by no record other than their taxonomy, but some species are rich in data. Although these data-rich species are concentrated into a few taxonomic and functional groups, especially vertebrates, data are spread widely across marine animals, with members of all 32 phyla represented in at least one database. By highlighting gaps in current knowledge, our census of marine diversity data helps to prioritize future data collection activities, as well as emphasizing the importance of ongoing sustained observations and archiving of existing data into global repositories. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Integrative research perspectives on marine conservation’.

scholarly journals Plate tectonic regulation of global marine animal diversity

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (22) ◽  
pp. 5653-5658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Zaffos ◽  
Seth Finnegan ◽  
Shanan E. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Marine Invertebrate ◽  
The State ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
Global Biodiversity

Valentine and Moores [Valentine JW, Moores EM (1970) Nature 228:657–659] hypothesized that plate tectonics regulates global biodiversity by changing the geographic arrangement of continental crust, but the data required to fully test the hypothesis were not available. Here, we use a global database of marine animal fossil occurrences and a paleogeographic reconstruction model to test the hypothesis that temporal patterns of continental fragmentation have impacted global Phanerozoic biodiversity. We find a positive correlation between global marine invertebrate genus richness and an independently derived quantitative index describing the fragmentation of continental crust during supercontinental coalescence–breakup cycles. The observed positive correlation between global biodiversity and continental fragmentation is not readily attributable to commonly cited vagaries of the fossil record, including changing quantities of marine rock or time-variable sampling effort. Because many different environmental and biotic factors may covary with changes in the geographic arrangement of continental crust, it is difficult to identify a specific causal mechanism. However, cross-correlation indicates that the state of continental fragmentation at a given time is positively correlated with the state of global biodiversity for tens of millions of years afterward. There is also evidence to suggest that continental fragmentation promotes increasing marine richness, but that coalescence alone has only a small negative or stabilizing effect. Together, these results suggest that continental fragmentation, particularly during the Mesozoic breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, has exerted a first-order control on the long-term trajectory of Phanerozoic marine animal diversity.

Culture, Ecology and Economy of Fire Management in North Australian Savannas

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Fire Use ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Settlement Changes ◽  
Ecology And Economy ◽  
Carbon Economy

This engaging volume explores the management of fire in one of the world’s most flammable landscapes: Australia’s tropical savannas, where on average 18% of the landscape is burned annually. Impacts have been particularly severe in the Arnhem Land Plateau, a centre of plant and animal diversity on Indigenous land. Culture, Ecology and Economy of Fire Management in North Australian Savannas documents a remarkable collaboration between Arnhem Land’s traditional landowners and the scientific community to arrest a potentially catastrophic fire-driven decline in the natural and cultural assets of the region – not by excluding fire, but by using it better through restoration of Indigenous control over burning. This multi-disciplinary treatment encompasses the history of fire use in the savannas, the post-settlement changes that altered fire patterns, the personal histories of a small number of people who lived most of their lives on the plateau and, critically, their deep knowledge of fire and how to apply it to care for country. Uniquely, it shows how such knowledge and commitment can be deployed in conjunction with rigorous formal scientific analysis, advanced technology, new cross-cultural institutions and the emerging carbon economy to build partnerships for controlling fire at scales that were, until this demonstration, thought beyond effective intervention.

The Exploited Seas

2001 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Grand Banks ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ecological Science

The book combines the approaches of maritime history and ecological science to explore the evolution of life-forms and eco-systems in the ocean from a historical perspective, in order to establish and develop the sub-discipline of marine environmental history. Documentary records relating to the human activity, such as fishing, plus naturally occurring paleo-ecological data are analysed in order to determine the structure and function of exploited ecosystems. The book is divided into four chapter groups, the first concerned with Newfoundland and Grand Banks’ fisheries, the second with the potential of historical sources to provide a history of marine animal populations, the third explores the development of fisheries in the southern hemisphere during the twentieth century, and the final section explores the limitations of data and existing analysis of whale populations. The epilogue reiterates the suggestion that collaboration between historians and biologists is the key to furthering the sub-discipline.

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