Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium in Populations and Metapopulations
- Part II Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium in Communities
- Part III Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium on Geographical Scales
- Part IV Latitudinal Gradients
- Part V Effects Due to Invading Species, Habitat Loss and Climate Change
- 13 The physics of climate: equilibrium, disequilibrium and chaos
- 14 Episodic processes, invasion and faunal mosaics in evolutionary and ecological time
- 15 The emerging infectious diseases crisis and pathogen pollution
- 16 Establishment or vanishing: fate of an invasive species based on mathematical models
- 17 Anthropogenic footprints on biodiversity
- 18 Worldwide decline and extinction of amphibians
- 19 Climatic change and reptiles
- 20 Equilibrium and nonequilibrium in Australian bird communities – the impact of natural and anthropogenic effects
- 21 Population dynamics of insects: impacts of a changing climate
- 22 The futures of coral reefs
- Part VI Autecological Studies
- Part VII An Overall View
- Index
- References
14 - Episodic processes, invasion and faunal mosaics in evolutionary and ecological time
from Part V - Effects Due to Invading Species, Habitat Loss and Climate Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium in Populations and Metapopulations
- Part II Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium in Communities
- Part III Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium on Geographical Scales
- Part IV Latitudinal Gradients
- Part V Effects Due to Invading Species, Habitat Loss and Climate Change
- 13 The physics of climate: equilibrium, disequilibrium and chaos
- 14 Episodic processes, invasion and faunal mosaics in evolutionary and ecological time
- 15 The emerging infectious diseases crisis and pathogen pollution
- 16 Establishment or vanishing: fate of an invasive species based on mathematical models
- 17 Anthropogenic footprints on biodiversity
- 18 Worldwide decline and extinction of amphibians
- 19 Climatic change and reptiles
- 20 Equilibrium and nonequilibrium in Australian bird communities – the impact of natural and anthropogenic effects
- 21 Population dynamics of insects: impacts of a changing climate
- 22 The futures of coral reefs
- Part VI Autecological Studies
- Part VII An Overall View
- Index
- References
Summary
Episodic processes and faunal structure
Episodes of ecological perturbation and faunal turnover represent crises for global biodiversity and have occurred periodically across Earth’s history on a continuum linking deep evolutionary and shallow ecological time (Briggs, 1995; Hallam & Wignall, 1997; Hoberg & Brooks, 2008; Stigall, 2010). Major extinction events and biodiversity crises across the 540 million years of the Phanerozoic are equated with periods of maximum ecological disruption associated with geological, oceanographic and atmospheric (climatological) mechanisms which have influenced patterns and processes for diversification (dispersal and isolation), species diversity, community and faunal structure, turnover, and distribution on global to regional and landscape scales (Briggs, 1995; Stigall, 2012a, 2012b). Episodic or punctuated events set the stage for patterns of diversification and faunal associations downstream for extended periods of time (Eldredge & Gould, 1972; Eldredge et al., 2005). In essence, the cascading effects of ecological disruption may canalize faunal structure, eliminating evolutionary potential through differential extinction events, but concurrently may heighten faunal mixing and interchange through breakdown in ecological isolation during biotic expansion and geographic colonization (Rode & Lieberman, 2005; Hoberg & Brooks, 2010). Paradoxically, ecological crises may also be precursors for subsequent radiation and diversification in taxa which have persisted through events of maximal ecological perturbations (e.g., Hoberg & Brooks, 2008), and elevated rates for speciation are often linked to periods of rapid climatological and environmental change (Vrba, 1996). These processes and their influence on faunal structure and diversity are equivalent in evolutionary and ecological time and thus can serve as analogs for understanding and predicting the general outcomes of invasion and range shifts in contemporary communities and faunas (Hoberg, 2010; Hoberg & Brooks, 2010; Peterson, 2011; Stigall, 2012b).
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- Information
- The Balance of Nature and Human Impact , pp. 199 - 214Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013
References
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