Science

摘要

The biodiversity of the Amazon Basin is legendary, but the processes by which it has been generated have been debated. In the late 20th century the prevalent view was that the engine of diversity was repeated contraction and expansion of forest refugia during the past 3 million years or so. Hoorn et al. (p. 927) analyze findings from a diverse range of disciplines, including molecular phylogeny, ecology, sedi-mentology, structural geology, and palaeontology, to offer an overview of the entire history of this region during the Cenozoic era (66 million years ago).