Abstract

Paleoecology Past patterns of diversity can be used as a baseline for understanding how current human-induced changes are affecting biodiversity. Womack et al. looked at mollusk fossils from 40 million years ago in New Zealand to determine how ocean temperatures influence species richness and functional redundancy, a measure of how many species fill similar ecological roles. Both richness and redundancy increased in periods with warmer water, meaning that there were more species and that those species often filled similar ecological roles. Such ecological redundancy can increase ecosystem resilience, and understanding its relationship with temperature can help us determine where human activities are driving change. Science , abf8732, this issue p. [1027][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abf8732

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