title: Combining marine macroecology and palaeoecology in understanding biodiversity: microfossils as a model.
abstract: There is growing interest in the integration of macroecology and palaeoecology towards a better understanding of past, present, and anticipated future biodiversity dynamics. However, the empirical basis for this integration has thus far been limited. Here we review prospects for a macroecology-palaeoecology integration in biodiversity analyses with a focus on marine microfossils [i.e. small (or small parts of) organisms with high fossilization potential, such as foraminifera, ostracodes, diatoms, radiolaria, coccolithophores, dinoflagellates, and ichthyoliths]. Marine microfossils represent a useful model system for such integrative research because of their high abundance, large spatiotemporal coverage, and good taxonomic and temporal resolution. The microfossil record allows for quantitative cross-scale research designs, which help in answering fundamental questions about marine biodiversity, including the causes behind similarities in patterns of latitudinal and longitudinal variation across taxa, the degree of constancy of observed gradients over time, and the relative importance of hypothesized drivers that may explain past or present biodiversity patterns. The inclusion of a deep-time perspective based on high-resolution microfossil records may be an important step for the further maturation of macroecology. An improved integration of macroecology and palaeoecology would aid in our understanding of the balance of ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped the biosphere we inhabit today and affect how it may change in the future.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, Cape d'Aguilar Road, Shek O, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Moriaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yasuhara
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada.|United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0DL, UK.
authors.forename: Derek P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Tittensor
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hillebrand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Worm
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D056908:Foraminifera; D005580:Fossils; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: biodiversity; macroecology; marine biology; micropalaeontology; palaeoecology; sediment core