Boundaries and dynamics of biomes

Abstract

Species are packed into biogeographic zones, where evolution can effectively operate independently to forge evolutionary novelty. Biomes are perhaps the most relevant unit of evolutionary progress, with the vast majority of evolutionary radiations being constrained within their walls. A fundamental question in Macroecology is how biomes historically assembled and why species are distributed in them as they are. First, quantitative methodology to delineate biomes are proposed here to identify where biomes are and have been. Second, extinction is studied as a process that contributes to biome turnover. Third, the Phanerozoic fossil record is assessed for biases that need to be overcome to delineate the shifting spatial boundaries biomes over 500 million years.