title: The latitudinal biodiversity gradient through deep time.
abstract: Today, biodiversity decreases from equatorial to polar regions. This is a fundamental pattern governing the distribution of extant organisms, the understanding of which is critical to predicting climatically driven biodiversity loss. However, its causes remain unresolved. The fossil record offers a unique perspective on the evolution of this latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG), providing a dynamic system in which to explore spatiotemporal diversity fluctuations. Deep-time studies indicate that a tropical peak and poleward decline in species diversity has not been a persistent pattern throughout the Phanerozoic, but is restricted to intervals of the Palaeozoic and the past 30 million years. A tropical peak might characterise cold icehouse climatic regimes, whereas warmer greenhouse regimes display temperate diversity peaks or flattened gradients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. Electronic address: philipdmannion@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Philip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Mannion
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Upchurch
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK.
authors.forename: Roger B J
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK; Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HE, UK.
authors.forename: Anjali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goswami
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: biogeography; climate; dinosaurs; greenhouse; icehouse; phanerozoic; seasonality