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Phanerozoic Trends in the Global Diversity of Marine Invertebrates
John Alroy,1*Martin Aberhan,2David J. Bottjer,3Michael Foote,4Franz T. Fürsich,5Peter J. Harries,6Austin J. W. Hendy,7,8Steven M. Holland,9Linda C. Ivany,10Wolfgang Kiessling,2Matthew A. Kosnik,11Charles R. Marshall,12Alistair J. McGowan,13Arnold I. Miller,7Thomas D. Olszewski,14Mark E. Patzkowsky,15Shanan E. Peters,4,16Loïc Villier,17Peter J. Wagner,11Nicole Bonuso,3,18Philip S. Borkow,19Benjamin Brenneis,2Matthew E. Clapham,3,20Leigh M. Fall,14Chad A. Ferguson,7Victoria L. Hanson,4,9Andrew Z. Krug,4,15Karen M. Layou,7,9,21Erin H. Leckey,22Sabine Nürnberg,2Catherine M. Powers,3Jocelyn A. Sessa,7,15Carl Simpson,4,23Adam Tomaovch,4,24Christy C. Visaggi10,25
It has previously been thought that there was a steep Cretaceousand Cenozoic radiation of marine invertebrates. This patterncan be replicated with a new data set of fossil occurrencesrepresenting 3.5 million specimens, but only when older analyticalprotocols are used. Moreover, analyses that employ samplingstandardization and more robust counting methods show a modestrise in diversity with no clear trend after the mid-Cretaceous.Globally, locally, and at both high and low latitudes, diversitywas less than twice as high in the Neogene as in the mid-Paleozoic.The ratio of global to local richness has changed little, anda latitudinal diversity gradient was present in the early Paleozoic.
1 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California–Santa Barbara, 735 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA. 2 Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. 3 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089–0740, USA. 4 Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. 5 Geozentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen, Loewenichstrasse 28, D-91054, Germany. 6 Department of Geology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620–5201, USA. 7 Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221–0013, USA. 8 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520–8109, USA. 9 Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602–2501, USA. 10 Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. 11 Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013–7012, USA. 12 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. 13 Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. 14 Department of Geology and Geophysics and Faculty of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843–3115, USA. 15 Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802–2714, USA. 16 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. 17 Centre de Sédimentologie-Paléontologie, Université de Provence, 13 331 Marseille Cedex 3, France. 18 Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834–6850. 19 Science Department, Hamilton Local School District, Columbus, OH 43207, USA. 20 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California–Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. 21 Department of Geology, College of William and Mary, Post Office Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA. 22 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0399, USA. 23 Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708–0338, USA. 24 Geological Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravskácesta 9, 84005, Bratislava 45, Slovakia. 25 Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina–Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: alroy{at}nceas.ucsb.edu
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