Differential extinction and the contrasting structure of polar marine faunas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The low taxonomic diversity of polar marine faunas today reflects both the failure of clades to colonize or diversify in high latitudes and regional extinctions of once-present clades. However, simple models of polar evolution are made difficult by the strikingly different faunal compositions and community structures of the two poles.

Methodology/principal findings

A comparison of early Cenozoic Arctic and Antarctic bivalve faunas with modern ones, within the framework of a molecular phylogeny, shows that while Arctic losses were randomly distributed across the tree, Antarctic losses were significantly concentrated in more derived families, resulting in communities dominated by basal lineages. Potential mechanisms for the phylogenetic structure to Antarctic extinc

SUBMITTER: Krug AZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3008738 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature