Data from: Fossils and a large molecular phylogeny show that the evolution of species richness, generic diversity and turnover rates are disconnected

The magnitude and extent of global change during the Cenozoic are
remarkable, yet the impacts of these changes on biodiversity and the
evolutionary dynamics of species diversification remain poorly understood.
To investigate this question we combine palaeontological and neontological
data for the angiosperm order Fagales, an ecologically important clade of
c. 1370 species of trees with an exceptional fossil record. We show
differences in patterns of accumulation of generic diversity, species
richness, and turnover rates for Fagales. Generic diversity evolved
rapidly from the Late Cretaceous and peaked in the Eocene or Oligocene.
Turnover rates were high during periods of extreme global climate change,
but relatively low when the climate remained stable. Species richness
accumulated gradually throughout the Cenozoic, possibly at an accelerated
pace after the Middle Miocene. Species diversification was into new
environments: Quercoids radiating in Oligocene subtropical seasonally arid
habitats, Casuarinaceae in Australian pyrophytic biomes, and Betula into
late Neogene holarctic habitats. These radiations were counterbalanced by
regional extinctions in late-Neogene mesic warm-temperate forests. Thus
overall diversification at species level is linked to regional radiations
of clades with appropriate ecologies exploiting newly available habitats.