Data from: Diversity and tectonics: predictions from neutral theory

Numerical simulations of neutral metacommunities are used here to predict the effects of growth and shrinkage of metacommunities, as well as their separation and merging caused by continental collision and rifting and their secondary eustatic effects. Although growth and shrinkage of metacommunities predictably change diversity, separating and merging metacommunities have counterintuitive effects. Separating and merging metacommunities changes diversity within the individual areas, especially so for smaller areas, but they cause no change in total diversity of the system, contrary to previous predictions. The response times of metacommunities are likely to be geologically undetectable except for enormously large systems. These models can be used to predict the plate-tectonic effects on the diversity of terrestrial, coastal-marine, deep-marine, and oceanic island systems. Of these, global and regional coastal-marine systems are the most acutely sensitive to the changes in area and fragmentation caused by plate tectonics. Oceanic island systems also experience global and regional changes in diversity during supercontinent breakup and assembly, with the global effects driven by the changing length of volcanic arcs, and the regional effects also driven by secondary eustatic changes in shallow-marine area. Although individual terrestrial provinces or continents may experience substantial changes in diversity from rifting and collision, global terrestrial diversity should be unchanged except for the relatively modest contributions caused by the secondary eustatic effects on land area. These changes in diversity may be reinforced or counteracted by the changing latitudinal position of metacommunities.

本研究采用中性集合群落（neutral metacommunities）数值模拟方法，旨在预测集合群落的扩张与收缩，以及由大陆碰撞与裂谷作用引发的集合群落分离与合并，及其伴随的全球海平面变化次生效应。尽管集合群落的扩张与收缩会按预期改变群落多样性，但集合群落的分离与合并却会产生反直觉的影响。集合群落的分离与合并会改变单个区域内的群落多样性，对小型区域的影响尤为显著，但与此前的预测相悖的是，此类操作并不会改变整个系统的总多样性。集合群落的响应时间大概率在地质尺度上难以被观测到，除非是规模极其庞大的系统。上述模型可用于预测板块构造对陆地、海岸带海洋、深海海洋以及大洋岛屿生态系统多样性的影响。其中，全球及区域尺度的海岸带海洋生态系统对板块构造引发的面积变化与碎片化效应最为敏感。大洋岛屿生态系统在超大陆裂解与聚合过程中同样会经历全球及区域尺度的多样性变化：全球尺度的变化由火山弧长度的改变驱动，而区域尺度的变化则还受到浅海海域面积随全球海平面变化产生的次生效应影响。尽管单个陆地生物区或大陆可能因裂谷作用与板块碰撞经历显著的多样性变化，但全球陆地总多样性应保持稳定，仅会受到全球海平面变化对陆地面积产生的次生效应带来的相对小幅影响。此类多样性变化可能会因集合群落纬度位置的改变而得到强化或抵消。