英国伯明翰大学R. A. Close课题组近日揭示了显生宙海洋动物空间结构的多样性。2020年4月24日出版的《科学》杂志发表了这项成果。

他们使用空间显式方法通过生代来量化区域尺度的多样性来解释这种多样性。区域间多样性的变化可与时间上的变化相媲美，这在很大程度上可以由环境因素来解释，尤其是珊瑚礁的多样性。

相比之下，具有影响力的会随时间变化多样性假说，包括持续的长期增长，几乎没有解释力。对化石记录的空间结构进行建模，可转变对显生宙多样性模式及其宏观进化解释的解释。这就需要重新关注深度多元化研究。

研究人员表示，全球海洋动物化石记录激起了关于随着时间的流逝变化以及变化的驱动力的长期争论。但是，化石记录并不是真正的全球性记录，在地理范围和地质时间间隔之间的环境采样中，它有很大不同。

附：英文原文

Title: The spatial structure of Phanerozoic marine animal diversity

Author: R. A. Close, R. B. J. Benson, E. E. Saupe, M. E. Clapham, R. J. Butler

Issue&Volume: 2020/04/24

Abstract: The global fossil record of marine animals has fueled long-standing debates about diversity change through time and the drivers of this change. However, the fossil record is not truly global. It varies considerably in geographic scope and in the sampling of environments among intervals of geological time. We account for this variability using a spatially explicit approach to quantify regional-scale diversity through the Phanerozoic. Among-region variation in diversity is comparable to variation through time, and much of this is explained by environmental factors, particularly the extent of reefs. By contrast, influential hypotheses of diversity change through time, including sustained long-term increases, have little explanatory power. Modeling the spatial structure of the fossil record transforms interpretations of Phanerozoic diversity patterns and their macroevolutionary explanations. This necessitates a refocus of deep-time diversification studies.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aay8309

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6489/420