The preservation potential of terrestrial biogeographic patterns.

ABSTRACT: Extinction events in the geological past are similar to the present-day biodiversity crisis in that they have a pronounced biogeography, producing dramatic changes in the spatial distributions of species. Reconstructing palaeobiogeographic patterns from fossils therefore allows us to examine the long-term processes governing the formation of regional biotas, and potentially helps build spatially explicit models for future biodiversity loss. However, the extent to which biogeographic patterns can be preserved in the fossil record is not well understood. Here, we perform a suite of simulations based on the present-day distribution of North American mammals, aimed at quantifying the preservation potential of beta diversity and spatial richness patterns over extinction events of varying intens

SUBMITTER: Darroch SAF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7935024 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature