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稳定性（niche stability）、物种形成（speciation）以及区域生物群（regional biotas）的组装与多样性假说提供天然实验体系。本研究对比了劳伦大陆（Laurentian continent）奥陶纪晚期（Late Ordovician）里士满期生物入侵（Richmondian Biotic Invasion）期间，不同动物群区（faunal provinces）间共享属级类群的生态参数（ecologic parameters），包括偏好生境、占据度、丰度中位数及秩丰度。在入侵期间从一个动物群区扩散至另一动物群区的共享属（下称入侵型共享属），其四类生态参数中有三项的斯皮尔曼秩相关系数（Spearman rank correlations）大于0.5，表明入侵者的生态位稳定性处于较高水平。在入侵前后均存在于两个区域的共享属（下称非入侵型共享属）的相关系数则低于0.3，提示至少于8百万年前分化的演化支间发生了生态位偏移（niche shift）。生态位偏移并未在该时间区间内逐渐累积，而是呈现脉冲式发生的特征，与塔康造山运动（Taconic orogeny）的启动以及劳伦大陆南部暖水碳酸盐岩向冷水碳酸盐岩的转变密切相关。