Interplay Between Changing Climate and Species' Ecology Drives Macroevolutionary Dynamics

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 332; no. 6027; pp. 349 - 351
• Main Authors: Ezard, Thomas H. G., Aze, Tracy, Pearson, Paul N., Purvis, Andy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 15.04.2011; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Climate; Climate Change; Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; Drivers; Dynamics; Earth, ocean, space; Ecological modeling; Ecology; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Evolutionary biology; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Extinct species; Extinction; Extinction, Biological; Foraminifera - cytology; Foraminifera - genetics; Foraminifera - physiology; Fossils; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Speciation; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Marine ecology; Meteorology; Optimization; Paleobiology; Paleoclimatology; Phylogeny; Physical Environment; Plankton - cytology; Plankton - genetics; Plankton - physiology; Population ecology; Speciation; Species; Species diversity; Species extinction; Time; dynamics; biologic evolution; Species extinction; Interaction; Environmental factor; species diversity; climate change; Abiotic factor; Biotic factor; speciation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1203060

Ecological change provokes speciation and extinction, but our knowledge of the interplay among the biotic and abiotic drivers of macroevolution remains limited. Using the unparalleled fossil record of Cenozoic macroperforate planktonic foraminifera, we demonstrate that macroevolutionary dynamics depend on the interaction between species' ecology and the changing climate. This interplay drives diversification but differs between speciation probability and extinction risk: Speciation was more strongly shaped by diversity dependence than by climate change, whereas the reverse was true for extinction. Crucially, no single ecology was optimal in all environments, and species with distinct ecologies had significantly different probabilities of speciation and extinction. The ensuing macroevolutionary dynamics depend fundamentally on the ecological structure of species' assemblages.