COMBINING MARINE MACROECOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY IN BIODIVERSITY ANALYSES: MICROFOSSILS AS A MODEL

There is growing interest in the integration of macroecology and paleoecology toward a better understanding of past, present, and future biodiversity dynamics. However, the empirical basis for this integration has thus far been limited. Here we review macroecology-paleoecology 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, and ichthyoliths]. Marine microfossils are a useful model system for integrative macroecology and paleoecology 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 evolutionary and ecological drivers. The inclusion of a deep-time perspective based on high-resolution microfossil records is an impoirtant step for the further maturation of macroecology. An improved integration of macroecology and paleoecology would aid in our understanding of the balance of ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped the biosphere we inhabit today.