HOW DID LIFE BECOME SO DIVERSE? THE DYNAMICS OF DIVERSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE FOSSIL RECORD AND MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS

• Published in: Palaeontology Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 23 - 40
• Main Authors: BENTON, MICHAEL J., EMERSON, BRENT C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2007
• Subjects: biodiversity; Climate change; Disasters; diversification; diversity; Fossils; Genetic diversity; Mass extinctions; molecular phylogeny; Paleoecology; phylogeography; Quaternary; Speciation; Species diversity; Species extinction; Species richness

:  The long‐term diversification of life probably cannot be modelled as a simple equilibrial process: the time scales are too long, the potential for exploring new ecospace is too large and it is unlikely that ecological controls can act at global scales. The sum of many clade expansions and reducti...