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- Title
The historical assembly of continental biotas: late Quaternary range-shifting, areas of endemism, and biogeographic structure in the North American mammal fauna
- Authors
Riddle, B. R.
- Abstract
A controversial question in biogeography and ecology involves the extent to which vicariance and dispersal interact to determine the structure of continental biotic assemblages. Accumulating evidence of distributional changes during the past 40000 years (Late Quaternary) hassuggested to ecologists that changes in geographic ranges during thePleistocene were of sufficient magnitude to erode prior associationsbetween earth and biotic evolution in continental biotas. This paperfirst argues that this question can only be addressed by examining the magnitude of Late Quaternary range-shifting at the spatial scale established within the framework of historical biogeography (e.g., areas of endemism) rather than that of ecology (e.g., local community assemblages); and second reassesses patterns of range-shifting in the FAUNMAP data base recording Late Quaternary distributions of North American mammals. At the scale of geomorphological provinces, North American rodents have exhibited highly stable distributions during this time frame, suggesting that previous inferences drawn from analyses ofstability at a local community scale are not relevant to questions of congruence between earth and biotic history at regional or continental scales. A comprehensive understanding of processes underlying theassembly of continental biotas still requires incorporation of biogeographic patterns developed well before episodes of Late Quaternary climatic turbulence.
- Subjects
NORTH America; MAMMALS; PALEOECOLOGY; PHYTOGEOGRAPHY; SPECIES distribution
- Publication
Ecography, 1998, Vol 21, Issue 4, p437
- ISSN
0906-7590
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1600-0587.1998.tb00409.x