研究团队综合了哺乳动物化石记录和北美西部盆地和山脉地区地形演化的地球物理模型，以直接量化过去3000万年哺乳动物多样性与景观动态之间的关系。研究分析了构造历史(伸展应变率、古地形和崎岖度)、全球温度和多样性动态之间的协变。哺乳动物物种丰富度和更替对景观特征变化率的响应强于对特定特征本身的响应，多样性的峰值与高构造应变率和大海拔变化相一致。
据悉，景观特性对生物群的多样性和分布有着深远的影响，当今生物多样性热点出现在全球地形复杂的地区。复杂的地形是由构造作用塑造的，并进一步由气候和陆地表面过程之间的相互作用形成。这些过程通过促进物种形成和适应沿强环境梯度增加的物种丰富度，丰富了区域尺度的多样性。
附：英文原文
Title: Tectonic extension and paleoelevation influence mammalian diversity dynamics in the Basin and Range Province of western North America
Author: Tara M. Smiley, Alireza Bahadori, E. Troy Rasbury, William E. Holt, Catherine Badgley
Issue&Volume: 2024-06-21
Abstract: Landscape properties have a profound influence on the diversity and distribution of biota, with present-day biodiversity hot spots occurring in topographically complex regions globally. Complex topography is created by tectonic processes and further shaped by interactions between climate and land-surface processes. These processes enrich diversity at the regional scale by promoting speciation and accommodating increased species richness along strong environmental gradients. Synthesis of the mammalian fossil record and a geophysical model of topographic evolution of the Basin and Range Province in western North America enable us to directly quantify relationships between mammal diversity and landscape dynamics over the past 30 million years. We analyze the covariation between tectonic history (extensional strain rates, paleotopography, and ruggedness), global temperature, and diversity dynamics. Mammal species richness and turnover exhibit stronger responses to rates of change in landscape properties than to the specific properties themselves, with peaks in diversity coinciding with high tectonic strain rates and large changes in elevation across spatial scales.
DOI: adn6842
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn6842