Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 4 July 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5885, pp. 97 - 100
DOI: 10.1126/science.1156963
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Phanerozoic Trends in the Global Diversity of Marine Invertebrates

John Alroy,1* Martin Aberhan,2 David J. Bottjer,3 Michael Foote,4 Franz T. Fürsich,5 Peter J. Harries,6 Austin J. W. Hendy,7,8 Steven M. Holland,9 Linda C. Ivany,10 Wolfgang Kiessling,2 Matthew A. Kosnik,11 Charles R. Marshall,12 Alistair J. McGowan,13 Arnold I. Miller,7 Thomas D. Olszewski,14 Mark E. Patzkowsky,15 Shanan E. Peters,4,16 Loïc Villier,17 Peter J. Wagner,11 Nicole Bonuso,3,18 Philip S. Borkow,19 Benjamin Brenneis,2 Matthew E. Clapham,3,20 Leigh M. Fall,14 Chad A. Ferguson,7 Victoria L. Hanson,4,9 Andrew Z. Krug,4,15 Karen M. Layou,7,9,21 Erin H. Leckey,22 Sabine Nürnberg,2 Catherine M. Powers,3 Jocelyn A. Sessa,7,15 Carl Simpson,4,23 Adam Tomasovych,4,24 Christy C. Visaggi10,25

It has previously been thought that there was a steep Cretaceous and Cenozoic radiation of marine invertebrates. This pattern can be replicated with a new data set of fossil occurrences representing 3.5 million specimens, but only when older analytical protocols are used. Moreover, analyses that employ sampling standardization and more robust counting methods show a modest rise in diversity with no clear trend after the mid-Cretaceous. Globally, locally, and at both high and low latitudes, diversity was less than twice as high in the Neogene as in the mid-Paleozoic. The ratio of global to local richness has changed little, and a 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

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Heritability of Extinction Rates Links Diversification Patterns in Molecular Phylogenies and Fossils.
D. L. Rabosky (2009)
Syst Biol 58, 629-640
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Relative taxonomic and ecologic stability in Devonian marine faunas of New York State: a test of coordinated stasis.
L. C. Ivany, C. E. Brett, H. L. B. Wall, P. D. Wall, and J. C. Handley (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 499-524
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Phanerozoic trends in the global geographic disparity of marine biotas.
A. I. Miller, M. Aberhan, D. P. Buick, K. V. Bulinski, C. A. Ferguson, A. J. W. Hendy, and W. Kiessling (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 612-630
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mesozoic marine tetrapod diversity: mass extinctions and temporal heterogeneity in geological megabiases affecting vertebrates.
R. B. J. Benson, R. J. Butler, J. Lindgren, and A. S. Smith (2009)
Proc R Soc B
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A surfeit of theropods in the Moroccan Late Cretaceous? Comparing diversity estimates from field data and fossil shops.
A. J. McGowan and G. J. Dyke (2009)
Geology 37, 843-846
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Estimating the effects of sampling biases on pterosaur diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement.
R. J. Butler, P. M. Barrett, S. Nowbath, and P. Upchurch (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 432-446
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Good Genes and Good Luck: Ammonoid Diversity and the End-Permian Mass Extinction.
A. Brayard, G. Escarguel, H. Bucher, C. Monnet, T. Bruhwiler, N. Goudemand, T. Galfetti, and J. Guex (2009)
Science 325, 1118-1121
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dinosaur diversity and the rock record.
P. M. Barrett, A. J. McGowan, and V. Page (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 2667-2674
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Congruence of morphologically-defined genera with molecular phylogenies.
D. Jablonski and J. A. Finarelli (2009)
PNAS 106, 8262-8266
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Diversification trajectories and evolutionary life-history traits in early sharks and batoids.
J. Kriwet, W. Kiessling, and S. Klug (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 945-951
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Unveiling rare diversity by integrating museum, literature, and field data.
P. G. Harnik (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 190-208
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Red Queen and the Court Jester: Species Diversity and the Role of Biotic and Abiotic Factors Through Time.
M. J. Benton (2009)
Science 323, 728-732
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota.
A. Z. Krug, D. Jablonski, and J. W. Valentine (2009)
Science 323, 767-771
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The impact of lithification on the diversity, size distribution, and recovery dynamics of marine invertebrate assemblages.
J. A. Sessa, M. E. Patzkowsky, and T. J. Bralower (2009)
Geology 37, 115-118
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CHANGE AND STABILITY IN PERMIAN BRACHIOPOD COMMUNITIES FROM WESTERN TEXAS.
T. D. OLSZEWSKI and D. H. ERWIN (2009)
Palaios 24, 27-40
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The influence of lithification on Cenozoic marine biodiversity trends.
A. J. W. Hendy (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 51-62
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Revisiting Raup: exploring the influence of outcrop area on diversity in light of modern sample-standardization techniques.
P. D. Wall, L. C. Ivany, and B. H. Wilkinson (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 146-167
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Colloquium Paper: Dynamics of origination and extinction in the marine fossil record.
J. Alroy (2008)
PNAS 105, 11536-11542
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)