Data from: Biotic invasion, niche stability, and the assembly of regional biotas in deep time: comparison between faunal provinces

Biotic invasions in the fossil record provide natural experiments for testing hypotheses of niche stability, speciation, and the assembly and diversity of regional biotas. We compare ecologic parameters (preferred environment, occupancy, median abundance, rank abundance) of genera shared between faunal provinces during the Richmondian Biotic Invasion in the Late Ordovician on the Laurentian continent. Genera that spread from one faunal province to the other during the invasion (invading shared genera) have high Spearman rank correlations (>0.5) in three of four ecologic parameters, suggesting a high level of niche stability among invaders. Genera that existed in both regions prior to and following the invasion (non-invading shared genera) have low correlations (<0.3) and suggest niche shift between lineages that diverged at least 8 Myr earlier. Niche shift did not accumulate gradually over this time interval, but appears to have occurred in a pulse associated with the onset of the Taconic orogeny and the switch from warm-water to cool-water carbonates in southern Laurentia.化石记录中的生物入侵事件，可为检验生态位（niche）稳定性、物种形成以及区域生物群的组装与多样性相关假说提供天然实验平台。本研究对比了劳伦大陆晚奥陶世里士满期生物入侵（Richmondian Biotic Invasion）事件期间，不同生物地理区系（faunal province）间共享属的四类生态参数：偏好生境、栖息范围、丰度中位数、秩丰度。在入侵过程中从一个生物地理区系扩散至另一区系的属（入侵型共享属），其四类生态参数中有三项的斯皮尔曼秩相关系数高于0.5，表明入侵类群的生态位稳定性较高。而在入侵前后均存续于两个区系中的属（非入侵型共享属），其相关系数则低于0.3，提示其生态位发生了偏移，这类偏移涉及至少8百万年（Myr）前就已分化的演化支。生态位偏移并未在该时间区间内逐步累积，而是呈现脉冲式发生的特征，这一过程与塔康造山运动（Taconic orogeny）的启动，以及劳伦大陆南部从暖水碳酸盐岩向冷水碳酸盐岩的转变密切相关。