Abundance–diversity relationship as a unique signature of temporal scaling in the fossil record

Autor(en)
Adam Tomašových, Michał Kowalewski, Rafal Nawrot, Daniele Scarponi, Martin Zuschin
Abstrakt

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(en)
Institut für Paläontologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Florida Museum of Natural History, Università di Bologna
Journal
Ecology Letters
Band
27
ISSN
1461-023X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14470
Publikationsdatum
07-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
106021 Meeresbiologie, 105118 Paläontologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 – Leben unter Wasser
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/99a4bd2e-d654-42a7-8e61-d0a790183840