Differences in extinction rates drove modern biogeographic patterns of tropical marine biodiversity.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Di Martino E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5938229 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Differences in extinction rates drove modern biogeographic patterns of tropical marine biodiversity.
Di Martino Emanuela E Jackson Jeremy B C JBC Taylor Paul D PD Johnson Kenneth G KG
Science advances 20180404 4
Marine biodiversity in the Coral Triangle is several times higher than anywhere else, but why this is true is unknown because of poor historical data. To address this, we compared the first available record of fossil cheilostome bryozoans from Indonesia with the previously sampled excellent record from the Caribbean. These two regions differ several-fold in species richness today, but cheilostome diversity was strikingly similar until the end of the Miocene 5.3 million years ago so that the mode ...[more]
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