Abstract
The influence of the alpha diversity of communities on the appearance rates of new species may be either positive (due to coevolution and niche construction) or negative (due to community saturation). The development of global paleontological databases allows the extrapolation of the analysis of these effects to past geological epochs. To assess the effect of alpha diversity on the rates of generic formation in the evolution of the Phanerozoic marine biota, the correlation of the parameters D (mean generic diversity of paleontological collections containing representatives of a large taxon) and B (relative rate of the appearance of new genera in the given large taxon) was analyzed. The majority of large taxa, and the Phanerozoic biota in general, characteristically show predominance of periods of positive correlation (synchronous changes) of B and D, separated by shorter periods of negative correlation (opposite phase changes). These can be interpreted as periods of positive and negative influence of alpha diversity on diversification, although positive correlation can be generated by other factors, including taphonomic ones. Apparently, in the evolution of the Phanerozoic marine biota, the coevolution and “niche construction” played a more significant role than the effect of “saturation” of communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Alroy, C. R. Marshall, R. K. Bambach, et al., “Effects of Sampling Standardization on Estimates of Phanerozoic Marine Diversification,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 6261–6266 (2001).
J. Alroy, M. Aberhan, D. J. Bottjer, et al., “Phanerozoic Trends in the Global Diversity of Marine Invertebrates,” Science 321(5885), 97–100 (2008).
R. K. Bambach, “Species Richness in Marine Benthic Habitats through the Phanerozoic,” Paleobiology 3, 152–167 (1977).
U. Bastolla, M. A. Fortuna, A. Pascual-Garca, et al., “The Architecture of Mutualistic Networks Minimizes Competition and Increases Biodiversity,” Nature 458(7241), 1018–1020 (2009).
D. R. Bellwood, “Origins and Escalation of Herbivory in Fishes: A Functional Perspective,” Paleobiology 29(1), 71–83 (2003).
M. Benton, “The History of the Biosphere: Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Models of Global Diversity,” Trends Ecol. Evol. 2(6), 153–156 (1987).
M. J. Benton and B. C. Emerson, “How Did Life Become So Diverse? The Dynamics of Diversification According to the Fossil Record and Molecular Phylogenetics,” Palaeontol. 50, 23–40 (2007).
E. N. Bukvareva and G. M. Aleshchenko, “Principle of Optimum Diversity of Biosystems,” Usp. Sovr. Biol. 125(4), 337–348 (2005).
A. M. Bush and R. K. Bambach, “Did Alpha Diversity Increase During the Phanerozoic? Lifting the Veils of Taphonomic, Latitudinal, and Environmental Biases,” J. Geol. 112, 625–642 (2004).
A. Clarke and J. A. Crame, “The Importance of Historical Processes in Global Patterns of Diversity,” in Macroecology: Concepts and Consequences, Ed. by T. M. Blackburn and K. J. Gaston (Blackwell, Oxford, 2003), pp. 130–151.
M. D. Crisp, M. T. K. Arroyo, L. G. Cook, et al., “Phylogenetic Biome Conservatism on a Global Scale,” Nature 458(7239), 754–756 (2009).
C. S. Elton, The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (Methuen, London, 1958).
B. C. Emerson and N. Kolm, “Species Diversity Can Drive Speciation,” Nature 434(7036), 1015–1017 (2005).
D. H. Erwin, “Macroevolution: Seeds of Diversity,” Science 308(5729), 1752–1753 (2005).
A. A. Forbes, T. H. Q. Powell, L. L. Stelinski, et al., “Sequential Sympatric Speciation across Trophic Levels,” Science 323(5915), 776–779 (2009).
G. F. Fussmann, M. Loreau, and P. A. Abrams, “Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Communities and Ecosystems,” Funct. Ecol. 21(3), 465–477 (2007).
P. S. Giller, Community Structure and the Niche (Chapman Hall, London, 1984).
F. M. Gradstein, J. G. Ogg, A. G. Smith, et al., A Geologic Time Scale 2004 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2004).
P. R. Grant and B. R. Grant, How and Why Species Multiply: the Radiation of Darwin’s Finches (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2008).
L. J. Harmon, B. Matthews, S. Des Roches., et al., “Evolutionary Diversification in Stickleback Affects Ecosystem Functioning,” Nature 458(7242), 1167–1170 (2009).
N. N. Kalandadze and A. S. Rautian, “Jurassic Ecological Crisis in the Community of Terrestrial Tetrapods and the Heuristic Model of Conjugate Evolution of the Community and Biota,” in Problems of Preanthropogenic Evolution of the Biosphere (Nauka, Moscow, 1993), pp. 60–95 [in Russian].
V. A. Krassilov, Unsolved Problems of the Evolutionary Theory (Dal.-Vost. Nauchn. Tsentr Akad. Nauk SSSR, Vladivostok, 1986) [in Russian].
A. Lane and M. J. Benton, “Taxonomic Level As a Determinant of the Shape of the Phanerozoic Marine Biodiversity Curve,” Am. Natur. 162(3), 265–276 (2003).
M. Loreau, “Are Communities Saturated? On the Relationship Between α, β and γ Diversity,” Ecol. Let. 3, 73–76 (2000).
M. Loreau, S. Naeem, P. Inchausti, et al., “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Current Knowledge and Future Challenges,” Science 294(5543), 804–808 (2001).
J. B. Losos, Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 2009).
R. H. MacArthur and E. O. Wilson. The Theory of Island Biogeography (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1967).
A. V. Markov, “New Approach to Diversity Dynamics Modeling in the Phanerozoic Marine Biota,” Zh. Obshch. Biol. 62(6), 460–471 (2001).
A. V. Markov, “Alpha Diversity of Phanerozoic Marine Communities Positively Correlates with Longevity of Genera,” Paleobiology 35(2), 231–250 (2009).
A. V. Markov and A. V. Korotayev, “Phanerozoic Marine Biodiversity Follows a Hyperbolic Trend,” Palaeoworld 16, 311–318 (2007).
A. V. Markov and A. V. Korotayev, “Hyperbolic Growth of Diversity in Marine and Continental Biotas of the Phanerozoic and Community Evolution,” Zh. Obshch. Biol., No. 3, 175–194 (2008).
P. M. Novack-Gottshall, “Using a Theoretical Ecospace to Quantify the Ecological Diversity of Paleozoic and Modern Marine Biotas,” Paleobiology 33(2), 273–294 (2007).
F. J. Odling-Smee, K. N. Laland, and M. W. Feldman, Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2003).
T. Oji, C. Ogaya, and T. Sato, “Increase of Shell-Crushing Predation Recorded in Fossil Shell Fragmentation,” Paleobiology 29(4), 520–526 (2003).
M. E. Patzkowsky and S. M. Holland, “Lack of Community Saturation at the Beginning of the Paleozoic Plateau: The Dominance of Regional over Local Processes,” Paleobiology 29(4), 545–560 (2003).
M. E. Patzkowsky and S. M. Holland, “Diversity Partitioning of a Late Ordovician Marine Biotic Invasion: Controls on Diversity in Regional Ecosystems,” Paleobiology 33(2), 295–309 (2007).
M. G. Powell and M. Kowalewski, “Increase in Evenness and Sampled Alpha Diversity through the Phanerozoic: Comparison of Early Paleozoic and Cenozoic Marine Fossil Assemblages,” Geology 30(4), 331–334 (2002).
A. P. Rasnitsyn, “Evolutionary Process and Methodology of the Systematics,” Tr. Russ. Entomol. O-va 73, 1–108 (2002).
R. E. Ricklefs, The Economy of the Nature: A Textbook in Basic Ecology (Chiron, Portland, 1976; Mir, Moscow, 1979).
S. V. Rozhnov, “Morphogenesis and Evolution of Crinoids and Other Pelmatozoan Echinoderms in the Early Paleozoic,” Paleontol. J. 36(Suppl. 6), 525–S674 (2002).
D. Schluter, The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2000).
O. Seehausen, Y. Terai, I. S. Magalhaes, et al., “Speciation through Sensory Drive in Cichlid Fish,” Nature 455(7213), 620–626 (2008).
J. J. Sepkoski, “A Kinetic Model of Phanerozoic Taxonomic Diversity: I. Analysis of Marine Orders,” Paleobiology 4(3), 223–251 (1978).
J. J. Sepkoski, “Alpha, Beta or Gamma: Where Does All the Diversity Go?,” Paleobiology 14(3), 221–234 (1988).
J. J. Sepkoski, “Population Biology Models in Macroevolution,” Analytical Paleobiology: Short Courses in Paleontology, Ed. by N. L. Gilinsky and P. W. Signor (Paleontol. Soc., Knoxville, 1991), No. 4, pp. 136–156.
I. A. Shilov, Ecology (Vysshaya Shkola, Moscow, 2000) [in Russian].
B. Shorrocks, The Biology of African Savannahs (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2007).
Th. J. Stohlgren, D. Binkley, G. W. Chong, et al., “Exotic Plant Species Invade Hot Spots of Native Plant Diversity,” Ecol. Monogr. 69(1), 25–46 (1999).
Th. J. Stohlgren, D. T. Barnett, C. S. Jarnevich, et al., “The Myth of Plant Species Saturation,” Ecol. Let. 11, 313–326 (2008).
J. N. Thompson, “Rapid Evolution As an Ecological Process,” Trends Ecol. Evol. 13, 329–332 (1998).
G. Vermeij, “Anatomy of an Invasion: The Trans-Arctic Interchange,” Paleobiology 17(3), 281–307 (1991).
D. Western and A. K. Behrensmeyer, “Bone Assemblages Track Animal Community Structure over 40 Years in an African Savanna Ecosystem,” Science 324(5930), 1061–1064 (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.V. Markov, A.A. Bondarev, M.V. Vinarsky, 2010, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2010, No. 5, pp. 3–14.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Markov, A.V., Bondarev, A.A. & Vinarsky, M.V. Relationship between the alpha diversity of communities and the appearance rates of new genera in the evolution of phanerozoic marine biota. Paleontol. J. 44, 477–488 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030110050011
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030110050011