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 time periods.