The deep time drivers of biodiversity at the local, regional and global scales

• Grant number: 21/06780-4
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Young Investigators - Phase 2
• Start date: February 01, 2022
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Bosisio Quental
• Grantee: Tiago Bosisio Quental
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: Daniele Silvestro ; Juan López Cantalapiedra ; Lee Hsiang Liow ; Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
• Associated research grant: 12/04072-3 - The role of extinction and speciation rates, and the effect of different levels of biological organization on the origin and maintenance of biodiversity, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/21858-0 - The impact of fossil record spatial heterogeneity on inferring the asymmetry of the Great American Biotic interchange, BP.MS; 25/21634-5 - Evolution of the mandibular shape in saber-toothed cats and its consequences for extinction dynamics, BP.MS; 24/18993-0 - Interspecific competition in deep time: ecological perspectives and a new species-level approach, BP.DR; + associated scholarships 24/09339-5 - Unraveling Age-Dependent extinction: A theoretical and empirical exploration of the Clade Replacement model, BP.PD; 23/14534-9 - The role of interspecific competition at the local scale at deep time, BP.PD; 23/08774-7 - Evaluation of the third law of paleobiology in large herbivorous mammals on different continents, BP.MS; 22/15866-2 - The role of ecological interactions in bat diversification, BP.DR; 22/03664-6 - Diversification dynamics of interspecific competition: the role of niche similarity and spatial overlap, BP.PD; 22/02093-5 - Phylogenetic signal and the effect of body size on determining Carnivora fossil record quality, BP.IC - associated scholarships

Abstract

Biodiversity is non-homogeneously distributed in space, time and among lineages. It is imperative to move past phenomenological descriptions of biodiversity, to explore what are the underlying factors controlling changes in speciation and extinction rates. Most macroevolutionary studies have focused on large spatial and temporal scales, but macroevolutionary patterns should emerge from mechanisms acting at the local scale. The current project aims to use mammals as a macroevolutionary model system to integrate mechanisms and phenomena acting at different temporal and spatial scales, allowing us to better understand the drivers of biodiversity. I expect the main contributions of this project to be: the development and empirical application of ecologically oriented models of diversification that better circumscribe how interspecific interaction influence diversification dynamics; to provide a better understanding of how local and regional dynamics are linked and feedback in each other; to develop new methods that will be valuable to the whole macroevolutionary community. The project will be structured into different sub-areas representing different scales: 1- diversity dynamics at the global/regional scale; 2- diversity dynamics at the local scale; 3- the controls of biodiversity from the perspective of the species. To achieve these goals, we will use readily available data from online databases or the primary literature on fossil occurrences, ecological data for extinct and extant species, and molecular phylogenies. The data will be analyzed using a suite of different statistical methods including different birth-death models of diversification, which ultimately might allow us to update or even generate new paradigms on the mechanisms behind biodiversity dynamics at different scales. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PETRUCCI, BRUNO DO ROSARIO; JANUARIO, MATHEUS; QUENTAL, TIAGO. paleobuddy: An R package for flexible simulations of diversification and fossil sampling. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 13, n. 12, p. 7-pg., 2022-11-14. (18/05462-6, 19/16233-0, 21/06780-4)

MOTTA, LUAN MOLDAN; QUENTAL, TIAGO BOSISIO. New aspects of the asymmetry of the Great American Biotic Interchange based on an analysis of the spatial and temporal structure of immigrant taxa at local scale. PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY, v. 668, p. 8-pg., 2025-06-15. (21/06780-4)

CAETANO, DANIEL S.; QUENTAL, TIAGO B.. How Important Is Budding Speciation for Comparative Studies?. Systematic Biology, v. 72, n. 6, p. 11-pg., 2023-11-01. (19/27212-4, 21/06780-4)

GRACIOTTI, RODOLFO P.; PORTO, LUCAS M., V; GONCALVES-NETO, SALATIEL; QUENTAL, TIAGO B.. Ecological and spatial overlap indicate interspecific competition during North American canid radiation. Evolution, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2025-07-14. (22/03664-6, 21/04258-9, 21/06780-4)

COGNI, RODRIGO; QUENTAL, TIAGO B.; GUIMARAES JR, PAULO R.. Ehrlich and Raven escape and radiate coevolution hypothesis at different levels of organization: Past and future perspectives. Evolution, v. 76, n. 6, p. 16-pg., 2022-03-23. (21/06780-4, 18/14809-0, 13/25991-0)

ALENCAR, LAURA R. V.; QUENTAL, TIAGO B. B.. Geographical and ecological drivers of coexistence dynamics in squamate reptiles. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, v. N/A, p. 15-pg., 2023-08-03. (18/05462-6, 21/06780-4, 16/14292-1)

LIOW, LEE HSIANG; QUENTAL, TIAGO B.. Biotic interactions and their consequences for macroevolution: learning from the fossil record and beyond. PALEOBIOLOGY, v. 51, n. 1, p. 12-pg., 2025-03-18. (21/06780-4)