Abundance–diversity relationship as a unique signature of temporal scaling in the fossil record
- Author(s)
- Adam Tomašových, Michał Kowalewski, Rafal Nawrot, Daniele Scarponi, Martin Zuschin
- Abstract
Species diversity increases with the temporal grain of samples according to the species–time relationship (STR), impacting palaeoecological analyses because the temporal grain (time averaging) of fossil assemblages varies by several orders of magnitude. We predict a positive relation between total abundance and sample size-independent diversity (ADR) in fossil assemblages because an increase in time averaging, determined by a decreasing sediment accumulation, should increase abundance and depress species dominance. We demonstrate that, in contrast to negative ADR of non-averaged living assemblages, the ADR of Holocene fossil assemblages is positive, unconditionally or when conditioned on the energy availability gradient. However, the positive fossil ADR disappears when conditioned on sediment accumulation, demonstrating that ADR is a signature of diversity scaling induced by variable time averaging. Conditioning ADR on sediment accumulation can identify and remove the scaling effect caused by time averaging, providing an avenue for unbiased biodiversity comparisons across space and time.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Palaeontology
- External organisation(s)
- Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Bologna
- Journal
- Ecology Letters
- Volume
- 27
- ISSN
- 1461-023X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14470
- Publication date
- 07-2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106021 Marine biology, 105118 Palaeontology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/99a4bd2e-d654-42a7-8e61-d0a790183840