Reefal regions were biodiversity hotspots throughout the Phanerozoic

Close RA, Benson RB, Kießling W, Saupe EE (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Science Advances American Association for the Advancement of Science

Book Volume: 11

Journal Issue: 45

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adv9793

Abstract

Reefs are important hotspots of marine biodiversity today and have acted as cradles of diversification in the geological past. However, we know little about how the diversity of reef-supporting regions varied through deep time, and how this differed from other regions. We quantified regional diversity patterns in reef-supporting and non-reef-supporting regions in the fossil record of Phanerozoic marine invertebrates. Diversity in reef-supporting regions is on average two- to threefold higher than in non-reef-supporting regions and has been remarkably stable over timescales of tens to hundreds of millions of years. This signal is present in both reefal and non-reefal facies within reef-supporting regions, suggesting that reefs enriched diversity in surrounding environments. Sepkoski's "Modern Fauna," an assemblage of higher taxa that includes gastropods, bivalves, and echinoids, has been a key component of reef-supporting regions since the Paleozoic, contrasting with its later rise to dominance in non-reef-supporting regions during the later Mesozoic-Cenozoic.

Authors with CRIS profile

Wolfgang Kießling Lehrstuhl für Paläoumwelt

Involved external institutions

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) US United States (USA) (US) University of Oxford GB United Kingdom (GB)

How to cite

APA:

Close, R.A., Benson, R.B., Kießling, W., & Saupe, E.E. (2025). Reefal regions were biodiversity hotspots throughout the Phanerozoic. Science Advances, 11(45). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv9793

MLA:

Close, Roger A., et al. "Reefal regions were biodiversity hotspots throughout the Phanerozoic." Science Advances 11.45 (2025).

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