The preservation potential of terrestrial biogeographic patterns

Area of Science:

• Paleontology
• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Extinction events dramatically alter species distributions, similar to the current biodiversity crisis.
• Palaeobiogeography reconstructs past spatial patterns to understand long-term ecological processes.
• Understanding fossil record fidelity is crucial for modeling future biodiversity loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• Quantify the preservation potential of biogeographic patterns through simulated extinction events.
• Assess how varying extinction intensities and taphonomic filters affect pattern preservation.
• Investigate the fidelity of beta diversity and spatial richness patterns in the fossil record.

Main Methods:

• Simulations based on present-day North American mammal distributions.
• Application of stepped taphonomic filters to simulate fossilization processes.
• Analysis of preservation potential for beta diversity and spatial richness.

Main Results:

• Taphonomic biases, particularly body size, pose the most significant challenge to reconstructing biogeographic patterns.
• Small mammal fossils in bird castings and range expansion of surviving species can mitigate these biases.
• Biogeographic patterns demonstrate a surprisingly high preservation potential over extinction events.

Conclusions:

• The fossil record is a valuable, high-fidelity dataset for studying changes in biota distribution over geological time.
• Despite taphonomic challenges, palaeobiogeographic reconstructions are feasible and informative.
• Insights from fossil biogeography can inform spatially explicit models of future biodiversity changes.