Deep drilling reveals massive shifts in evolutionary dynamics after formation of ancient ecosystem

DOI
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The scarcity of high-resolution empirical data directly tracking diversity over time limits our understanding of speciation and extinction dynamics and the drivers of rate changes. Here, we analyze a continuous species-level fossil record of endemic diatoms from ancient Lake Ohrid, along with environmental and climate indicator time series since lake formation 1.36 million years (Ma) ago. We show that speciation and extinction rates nearly simultaneously decreased in the environmentally dynamic phase after ecosystem formation and stabilized after deep-water conditions established in Lake Ohrid. As the lake deepens, we also see a switch in the macroevolutionary trade-off, resulting in a transition from a volatile assemblage of short-lived endemic species to a stable community of long-lived species. Our results emphasize the importance of the interplay between environmental/climate change, ecosystem stability, and environmental limits to diversity for diversification processes. The study also provides a new understanding of evolutionary dynamics in long-lived ecosystems.
Date Issued
2020
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Wilke, Thomas
Hauffe, Torsten
Jovanovska, Elena
Cvetkoska, Aleksandra
Donders, Timme
Ekschmitt, Klemens
Francke, Alexander
Lacey, Jack H.
Levkov, Zlatko
Marshall, Charles R.
Neubauer, Thomas A.
Silvestro, Daniele
Stelbrink, Björn
Albrecht, Christian
Holtvoeth, Jens
Krastel, Sebastian
Leicher, Niklas
Leng, Melanie J.
Lindhorst, Katja
Masi, Alessia
Ognjanova-Rumenova, Nadja
Panagiotopoulos, Konstantinos
Reed, Jane M.
Sadori, Laura
Tofilovska, Slavica
Van Bocxlaer, Bert
Wagner-Cremer, Friederike
Wesselingh, Frank P.
Wolters, Volkmar
Zanchetta, Giovanni
Zhang, Xiaosen
Wagner, Bernd
Additional Credits
Journal
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
ISSN
2375-2548
Access(Rights)
Unknown
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