Diversity partitioning in Phanerozoic benthic marine communities

Richard Hofmann,Martin Aberhan,Melanie Tietje

doi:10.1073/pnas.1814487116

Richard Hofmann, Martin Aberhan + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814487116

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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 gamma diversity becomes increasingly weak toward the recent. Generally, increases in overall biodiversity were accomplished by adding more species to local habitats, and apparently this process never reached saturation during the Phanerozoic. Our results provide general support for an ecological model in which diversification occurs in successive phases of progressing levels of biotic interactions.

Highlights

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
Introduced by Whittaker [7, 8], biodiversity can be dissected into three components known as alpha diversity, beta diversity, and gamma diversity
High gamma diversity can be gained by increasing alpha diversity, beta diversity, or both

Summary

Introduction

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 withinhabitat (alpha), between-habitat (beta), and overall (gamma) diversity of benthic marine invertebrates for Phanerozoic geological formations. Deciphering biodiversity patterns and their drivers for the geological past attracts unabated interest [1, 2] to identify the principal processes of diversification and the response of the biosphere to environmental perturbations [3] Species interactions such as competition, predation, and niche construction are key to the understanding of diversity accumulation and potential saturation effects in local and regional species richness [4,5,6]. Further increase of biodiversity is generally achieved by finer resource partitioning driven by positive species interactions

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