Evolutionary history of zoogeographical regions surrounding the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and surrounding regions have one of the most complex biotas on Earth. However, the evolutionary history of these regions in deep time is poorly understood. In this study, we quantified the temporal changes in beta dissimilarities among zoogeographical regions during the Cenozoic using 4,966 extant terrestrial vertebrates and 1,278 extinct mammal genera. We identified ten present-day zoogeographical regions and found that they underwent a striking change over time. Specifically, the fauna on the TP was close to the Oriental realm in deep time, while it became more similar to the Palearctic realms towards the present day. The present-day zoogeographical regions generally emerged during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (ca. 5 Ma). These results indicate that geological events such as the Indo-Asian Collision, the TP uplift, and the aridification of the Asian interior underpinned the evolutionary history of the zoogeographical regions surrounding the TP over different ...

青藏高原（Tibetan Plateau, TP）及其周边区域拥有地球上最为复杂的生物区系之一。然而，学界对这些区域的深时演化历史长期以来认知不足。本研究依托4966种现生陆生脊椎动物与1278个已灭绝哺乳动物属类，量化了新生代时期各动物地理区域间的β相异度（beta dissimilarities）随时间的动态变化。研究识别出10个现存动物地理区域，并发现它们在演化进程中发生了显著的格局转变。具体而言，青藏高原的动物群在深时阶段与东洋界（Oriental realm）关系紧密，而随着时间推移逐渐与古北界（Palearctic realm）趋于相似。现存动物地理区域大体形成于中新世/上新世交界时期（约5 Ma）。上述结果表明，印度-亚洲板块碰撞、青藏高原隆升以及亚洲内陆干旱化等地质事件，共同支撑了青藏高原周边动物地理区域在不同阶段的演化历史。