Diversity partitioning in Phanerozoic benthic marine communities.

ABSTRACT: Biotic interactions such as competition, predation, and niche construction are fundamental drivers of biodiversity at the local scale, yet their long-term effect during earth history remains controversial. To test their role and explore potential limits to biodiversity, we determine within-habitat (alpha), between-habitat (beta), and overall (gamma) diversity of benthic marine invertebrates for Phanerozoic geological formations. We show that an increase in gamma diversity is consistently generated by an increase in alpha diversity throughout the Phanerozoic. Beta diversity drives gamma diversity only at early stages of diversification but remains stationary once a certain gamma level is reached. This mode is prevalent during early- to mid-Paleozoic periods, whereas coupling of beta and gam

SUBMITTER: Hofmann R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6320541 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature