Coupling of predation intensity and global diversity over geologic time

摘要

The geologic history of earth's biodiversity, and the origins of this pattern, are central problems in paleobiology and evolutionary biology. The basic picture for marine organisms was outlined in 1860 (1) but was considerably refined in the 1980s and 1990s by the late Jack Sepko-ski. His databases of marine animal families and genera produced an iconic pattern of an early Paleozoic rise in diversity, followed by a late Paleozoic plateau or slow decline, a low after the end-Permian extinction, and a final protracted rise through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (2, 3). The explanation for this pattern has been an active area of research, with interpretations ranging from preservational artifacts to a host of biologically mediated processes (4-7).