title: The geological history of deep-sea colonization by echinoids: roles of surface productivity and deep-water ventilation.
abstract: The origins and geological history of the modern fauna of deep-sea echinoids is explored using a combination of palaeontological and molecular data. We demonstrate that, whereas generalist omnivores have migrated into the deep sea in low numbers over the past 200 Myr, there was a short time-interval between approximately 75 and 55 Myr when the majority of specialist detritivore clades independently migrated off-shelf. This coincides with a marked increase in seasonality, continental run-off and surface water productivity, and suggests that increasing organic carbon delivery into ocean basins was an important controlling factor. Oceanic anoxic events, by contrast, appear to have played a subsidiary role in controlling deep-sea diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK. a.smith@nhm.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stockley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003710:Demography; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005843:Geography; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis