Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:36:13.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the relationship between Phanerozoic diversity and changes in habitable area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Karl W. Flessa  and
J. John Sepkoski Jr.
Karl W. Flessa
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona 85721
J. John Sepkoski Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago; 5734 South Ellis Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60637
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Applications of the species-area equation to studies of fluctuations in Phanerozoic diversity have great promise but can involve questionable assumptions. Sepkoski's (1976) analysis of marine diversity throughout the Phanerozoic record assumes that total rock volume is a sufficient measure of sampling efficiency and that an isomorphous equation is appropriate for all of Phanerozoic time. The area of marine sedimentary rock and the area of continental seas are not independent variables. Residual variation in diversity (that which remains after subtracting the effects of rock volume) might be explained by either the species-area relationship or by another component of sampling efficiency. A species-area equation in which the slope (z) and intercept (k) are assumed constant receives mixed support from arguments based on Recent terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Observed z-values cluster near a value of 0.30 despite a wide taxonomic range, but are generally below those found for the Phanerozoic record. Temporal fluctuations in k values, in response to changes in the area of continental seas, may produce elevated estimates of z.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , Summer 1978 , pp. 359 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Abbott, I. and Grant, P. R. 1976. Nonequilibrial bird faunas on islands. Am. Nat. 110:507–528.Google Scholar
Brown, J. H. 1971. Mammals on mountaintops: nonequilibrium insular biogeography. Am. Nat. 105:467–478.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, T. C. 1898. A systematic source of evolution of provincial faunas. J. Geol. 6:597–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cody, M. L. 1975. Towards a theory of continental species diversities: bird distributions over mediterranean habitat gradients. Pp. 214–257. In: Cody, M. L. and Diamond, J. M., eds. Ecology and Evolution of Communities. 545 pp.Belknap Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Connor, E. F. and McCoy, E. D. 1978. The statistics and biology of the species-area relationship. Am. Nat. 112: in press.Google Scholar
Culver, D. C., Holsinger, J. R. and Baroody, R. 1973. Toward a predictive cave biogeography: the Greenbriar Valley as a case study. Evolution. 27:689–695.Google Scholar
Darlington, P. J. 1943. Carabidae of mountains and islands: data on the evolution of isolated faunas, and on atrophy of wings. Ecol. Monogr. 13:37–61.Google Scholar
Darlington, P. J. 1957. Zoogeography. 675 pp. J. Wiley and Sons; New York.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. 1972. Biogeographic kinetics: estimation of relaxation times for avifaunas of southwest pacific islands. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S. 69:3199–3203.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. 1974. Colonization of exploded volcanic islands by birds: the supertramp strategy. Science. 179:759–769.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. and Mayr, E. 1976. Species-area relation for birds of the Solomon Archipelago. Proc. Acad. Sci., U.S. 73:262–266.Google Scholar
Dritschilo, W., Cornell, H., Nafus, D. and O'Connor, B. 1975. Insular biogeography: of mice and mites. Science. 190:467–469.Google Scholar
Flessa, K. W. 1975. Area, continental drift and mammalian diversity. Paleobiology. 1:189–194.Google Scholar
Flessa, K. W. and Imbrie, J. 1973. Evolutionary pulsations: Evidence from Phanerozoic diversity patterns. Pp. 247–285. In: Tarling, D. H. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Implications of Continental Drift to the Earth Sciences. Vol. 1. 622 pp.Academic Press; London and New York.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1974. Changing patterns of provinciality and diversity of fossil animals in relation to plate tectonics. J. Biogeogr. 1:213–225.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T. H. and Armstrong, N. E. 1965. Environmental determination of insular variation in bird species abundance in the Gulf of Guinea. Nature. 207:148–151.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T. H., Barth, R. H. Jr., and Rubinoff, I. 1964. The environmental control of bird species abundance. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S. 52:132–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horn, M. H. and Allen, L. G. 1976. Numbers of species and faunal resemblance of marine fishes in California bays and estuaries. Bull. Southern Calif. Acad. Sci. 75:159–170.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. G. 1974. Extinction of perched faunas. Geology. 2:479–482.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. P., Mason, L. G., and Raven, P. H. 1968. Ecological parameters and plant species diversity. Am. Nat. 102:297–306.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. P. and Raven, P. H. 1970. Natural regulation of plant species diversity. Evol. Biol. 4:127–162.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. P. and Raven, P. H. 1973. Species number and endemism: The Galapagos Archipelago revisited. Science. 179:893–895.Google Scholar
Lassen, H. H. 1975. The diversity of freshwater snails in view of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography. Oecologia. 19:1–8.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. and Wilson, E. O. 1963. An equilibrium theory of insular zoogeography. Evolution. 17:373–387.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. and Wilson, E. O. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. 203 pp. Princeton Univ. Press; Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
May, R. M. 1975. Patterns of species abundance and diversity. Pp. 81–120. In: Cody, M. L. and Diamond, J. M., eds. Ecology and Evolution of Communities. 545 pp.Belknap Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Moore, R. C. 1954. Evolution of Late Paleozoic invertebrates in response to major oscillations of shallow seas. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 112:259–286.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1967. Revolutions in the history of life. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 89:63–91.Google Scholar
Opler, P. A. 1974. Oaks as evolutionary islands for leaf-mining insects. Am. Sci. 62:67–73.Google Scholar
Power, D. M. 1972. Numbers of bird species on the California Islands. Evolution. 26:451–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preston, F. W. 1962. The canonical distribution of commonness and rarity. Ecology. 43:185–215, 410–432.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1976a. Species diversity in the Phanerozoic: a tabulation. Paleobiology. 2:279–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1976b. Species diversity in the Phanerozoic: an interpretation. Paleobiology. 2:289–297.Google Scholar
Rex, M. A. 1972. The relationship of island area and isolation to color polymorphism in Liguus fasciatus (Pulmonata, Bulimulidae). Breviora. 391:1–15.Google Scholar
Ricklefs, R. and Cox, G. 1972. Taxon cycles in the West Indian avifauna. Am. Nat. 106:195–219.Google Scholar
Ronov, A. B. 1959. On the post-Precambrian geochemical history of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Geochemistry. 5:493–506.Google Scholar
Ronov, A. B. 1968. Probable changes in the composition of sea water during the course of geologic time. Sedimentology. 10:25–43.Google Scholar
Schopf, T. J. M. 1974. Permo-Triassic extinctions: relation to sea-floor spreading. J. Geol. 82:129–143.Google Scholar
Schopf, T. J. M. 1978. The role of biogeographic provinces in regulating marine faunal diversity thru geologic time. In: Gray, J. and Boucot, A. J., eds. Historical Biogeography, Plate Tectonics and the Changing Environment. Biology Colloquium, Oregon State Univ. In press.Google Scholar
Schopf, T. J. M., Fisher, J. B., and Smith, C. A. F. III. 1978. Is the marine latitudinal diversity gradient merely another example of the species area curve? In: Beardmore, J. A. and Battaglia, B., eds. Genetics, Ecology and Evolution of Marine Organisms. Plenum Press; New York. In press.Google Scholar
Seifert, R. P. 1975. Clumps of Heliconia inflorescences as ecological islands. Ecology. 56:1416–1422.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1976. Species diversity in the Phanerozoic: species-area effects. Paleobiology. 2:298–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1978. A kinetic model of Phanerozoic diversity. I. analysis of marine orders. Paleobiology. 4: In press.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. and Rex, M. A. 1974. Distribution of fresh-water mussels: coastal rivers as biogeographic islands. Syst. Zool. 23:165–188.Google Scholar
Simberloff, D. S. 1972. Models in biogeography. Pp. 161–191. In: Schopf, T. J. M., ed. Models in Paleobiology. Freeman-Cooper; San Francisco, California.Google Scholar
Simberloff, D. S. 1974. Permo-Triassic extinctions: effects of area on biotic equilibrium. J. Geol. 82:267–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simerloff, D. S. 1976. Experimental zoogeography of islands: effects of island size. Ecology. 57:629–648.Google Scholar
Simpson, B. 1975. Pleistocene changes in the flora of the high tropical Andes. Paleobiology. 1:273–294.Google Scholar
Strong, D. R. 1974a. Rapid asymptotic species accumulation in phytophagous insect communities: the pests of cacao. Science. 185:1064–1066.Google Scholar
Strong, D. R. 1974b. Nonasymptotic species richness models and the insects of British trees. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S. 71:2766–2769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Usher, M. B. 1973. Biological Management and Conservation: Ecological Theory, Application and Planning. 394 pp. Chapman and Hall; London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentine, J. W. and Moores, E. M. 1970. Plate tectonic regulation of biotic diversity and sea level: a model. Nature. 220:657–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentine, J. W. and Moores, E. M. 1972. Global tectonics and the fossil record. J. Geol. 80:167–184.Google Scholar
Vuilleumier, F. 1970. Insular biogeography in continental regions: The northern Andes of South America. Am. Nat. 104:373–388.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. 1961. The nature of the taxon cycle in the Melanesian ant fauna. Am. Nat. 95:169–193.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. and Taylor, R. W. 1967. An estimate of the potential evolutionary increase in species density in the Polynesian ant fauna. Evolution. 21:1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed