Abstract
The Carboniferous and Permian were crucial intervals in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, which occurred alongside substantial environmental and climate changes throughout the globe, as well as the final assembly of the supercontinent of Pangaea. The influence of these changes on tetrapod biogeography is highly contentious, with some authors suggesting a cosmopolitan fauna resulting from a lack of barriers, and some identifying provincialism. Here we carry out a detailed historical biogeographic analysis of late Paleozoic tetrapods to study the patterns of dispersal and vicariance. A likelihood-based approach to infer ancestral areas is combined with stochastic mapping to assess rates of vicariance and dispersal. Both the late Carboniferous and the end-Guadalupian are characterised by a decrease in dispersal and a vicariance peak in amniotes and amphibians. The first of these shifts is attributed to orogenic activity, the second to increasing climate heterogeneity.
Highlights
The Carboniferous and Permian were crucial intervals in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, which occurred alongside substantial environmental and climate changes throughout the globe, as well as the final assembly of the supercontinent of Pangaea
A major transition in the history of terrestrial faunas occurred during the late Paleozoic
Many discussions of patterns of dispersal and vicariance in Paleozoic tetrapods are short notes embedded in studies whose primary focus is anatomical descriptions of species[22,23,24,25]
Summary
The Carboniferous and Permian were crucial intervals in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, which occurred alongside substantial environmental and climate changes throughout the globe, as well as the final assembly of the supercontinent of Pangaea The influence of these changes on tetrapod biogeography is highly contentious, with some authors suggesting a cosmopolitan fauna resulting from a lack of barriers, and some identifying provincialism. Many discussions of patterns of dispersal and vicariance in Paleozoic tetrapods are short notes embedded in studies whose primary focus is anatomical descriptions of species[22,23,24,25] Such discussions lack the application of quantitative methods and instead are limited to visual examinations of a phylogenetic tree, often just presenting the biogeographic area of the basalmost member of a particular clade as the place of origin of that clade. Quantitative methods, event-based methods incorporating phylogenetic hypotheses, will provide a more rigorous analysis of these issues than has previously been applied to Paleozoic tetrapods
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