Testing the role of reefs as a source of evolutionary novelty in the oceans

历史和生态因素被认为是现代热带珊瑚礁多样性的潜在原因。在这个项目中，我想探讨历史方面的问题，重点是珊瑚礁的多样性是否主要是在原地创建，或者如果它主要是由于在其他环境中进化的类群的招聘。换句话说，我打算评估珊瑚礁作为进化新奇来源的作用。先前的一些分析表明，在海洋中，大量的进化创新起源于岸上的浅水环境和热带地区。然而，进化新奇性的位点是否能被更精确地指定仍然是未知的。虽然热带珊瑚礁的物种丰富性和大量的兄弟物种可能表明进化的新奇源于珊瑚礁本身，但珊瑚礁环境之外的进化辐射和随后的补充也是合理的。数据来源：Paleobiology Database（列出了地质背景下的古生代分类事件）和古礁数据库（列出古生代珊瑚礁的几何学、沉积学和古生物学属性）将结合起来，以（1）确定与珊瑚礁有明显亲和力的分类群，而不是与海底生态系统有亲和力的分类群，（2）比较珊瑚礁爱好者和海底爱好者的多样性动态，（3）确定珊瑚礁系统对迁出（扩散）和迁入（补充）的开放性。这些分析将详细说明礁在整个中生代宏观演化中的作用。除了测试一般珊瑚礁的创新潜力外，该项目还将测试这种潜力是否随时间而变化，将古生代与后古生代以及背景灭绝间隔与大规模灭绝间隔进行对比。这项研究将（1）在几个分类学水平上为进化新奇的位点增加新的视角，（2）特别对珊瑚礁的进化有影响，但也对一般的进化过程有影响。

Historical and ecological factors are discussed as potential causes of the great diversity of modern tropical coral reefs. In this project I want to explore historical aspects focusing on the question of whether reef diversity is mostly created in situ or if it is largely due to the recruitment of taxa that evolved in other environments. In other words, I intend to evaluate the role of reefs as a source of evolutionary novelty. Several previous analyses have demonstrated that in the oceans substantial evolutionary innovation originated in onshore shallow-water environments and in the tropics. If the loci of evolutionary novelty can be specified more precisely remains unknown, however. Although the great species richness of tropical coral reefs and the high number of sibling species might indicate that evolutionary novelty stems from the reefs themselves, an evolutionary radiation outside the reef environment and subsequent recruitment is also plausible. Data from the Paleobiology Database (listing Phanerozoic taxonomic occurrences in their geological context) and the PaleoReefs database (listing geometric, sedimentological and paleontological attributes of Phanerozoic reefs) will be combined to (1) identify taxa that have a distinct affinity to reefs opposed to taxa that have an affinity to level-bottom ecosystems, (2) compare diversity dynamics of reef lovers and level-bottom lovers, and (3) determine the openness of the reef system to emigration (dispersal) and immigration (recruitment). The analyses will detail the role of reefs in macroevolution over the entire Phanerozoic. In addition to testing for the innovation potential of reefs in general, this project will test if this potential has changed through time, contrasting the Paleozoic with the post- Paleozoic and background extinction intervals with mass extinction intervals. This study will (1) add new perspectives to the loci of evolutionary novelty at several taxonomic levels, and (2) have implications for reef evolution in particular but also for evolutionary processes in general.