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Future Palaeontologists Will Detect Current Mammal Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Aim: Fossil data provide crucial insights into past biogeographic and macroecological patterns. However, geological, biological, and sampling biases can potentially compromise genuine biodiversity inferences. Here, we tested whether fossil biases may hinder the accurate retrieval of the Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient (LBG). Location: Global. Time Period: Contemporary. Major Taxa Studied: Mammals. Methods: We implemented a filtering process to current mammal distribution maps, simulating one geological, two biological, and three sampling sources of bias. Namely, distribution maps were downgraded to regions with sediments, species preservation was modulated by their range size and body size, and sampling was applied to locations with a fossil record. We applied the filters sequentially to mimic a process of progressive fossilisation, considering three preservation rates and removing up to 98.8% of the original species. We also applied filters independently to assess their individual effect. Lastly, we quantified the richness loss, the change in the slope between latitude and richness, and the change in richness maxima throughout the filters. Results: Results indicate that the applied filters collectively and distinctly influence the detection and robustness of the LBG signal. However, although the slope of the richness gradient diminishes progressively (especially for filters affecting species by their body size or taxonomic group), a LBG signal is detected across all the filters. Equally, despite the critical species loss, richness maxima remain around the equator. Main Conclusions: We demonstrated that strongly incomplete or biased samples can still recover accurate large-scale biogeographic patterns such as the LBG. Our results show an optimistic scenario in which, although the LBG intensity is sensitive to the uneven loss of information in biodiversity data, a detectable signal can be retrieved for all scenarios.
Descrição
This paper is part of LOST project (PID2021\u2010123202NA\u2010I00) funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by \u2018ERDF A way of making Europe\u2019. S. Galv\u00E1n was funded by the Universidade de Vigo through a predoctoral fellowship PREUVIGO\u20102022 (00VI 131H 6410211). S. Gamboa was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities and the Next Generation European Union programme through a Margarita Salas Grant from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, grant CT31/21. This research was also funded by an \u2018Axuda Complementaria beneficiario axuda StG do ERC\u2019 from Xunta de Galicia GAIN Oportunius programme and Conseller\u00EDa de Educaci\u00F3n (Galicia, Spain). A.A.C. was also supported through a Juan de la Cierva\u2010formaci\u00F3n 2020 fellowship (FJC2020\u2010044836\u2010I) funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation from the European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR and partially funded by a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship (NIF\\R1\\231802).
Funding for open access charge: Universidade de Vigo/CISUG.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Global Ecology and Biogeography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Palavras-chave
biogeography fossil record biases latitudinal biodiversity gradient macroecology Mammalia terrestrial Global and Planetary Change Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Ecology SDG 15 - Life on Land