Data from: Diversity and tectonics: predictions from neutral theory

Numerical simulations of neutral metacommunities are used here to predict the effects of growth and shrinkage of metacommunities, as well as their separation and merging caused by continental collision and rifting and their secondary eustatic effects. Although growth and shrinkage of metacommunities predictably change diversity, separating and merging metacommunities have counterintuitive effects. Separating and merging metacommunities changes diversity within the individual areas, especially so for smaller areas, but they cause no change in total diversity of the system, contrary to previous predictions. The response times of metacommunities are likely to be geologically undetectable except for enormously large systems. These models can be used to predict the plate-tectonic effects on the diversity of terrestrial, coastal-marine, deep-marine, and oceanic island systems. Of these, global and regional coastal-marine systems are the most acutely sensitive to the changes in area and fragmentation caused by plate tectonics. Oceanic island systems also experience global and regional changes in diversity during supercontinent breakup and assembly, with the global effects driven by the changing length of volcanic arcs, and the regional effects also driven by secondary eustatic changes in shallow-marine area. Although individual terrestrial provinces or continents may experience substantial changes in diversity from rifting and collision, global terrestrial diversity should be unchanged except for the relatively modest contributions caused by the secondary eustatic effects on land area. These changes in diversity may be reinforced or counteracted by the changing latitudinal position of metacommunities.

本研究采用中性元群落（neutral metacommunities）的数值模拟方法，以预测元群落的扩张与收缩，以及由大陆碰撞、裂谷作用引发的元群落分离与合并，及其伴随的次生全球海平面变化（eustatic）效应。尽管元群落的扩张与收缩可预期地改变物种多样性，但元群落的分离与合并却会产生反直觉的影响：其会改变单个区域内的物种多样性，对于小型区域而言这一效应尤为显著，但与此前的预测相悖的是，该过程并不会改变整个系统的总物种多样性。元群落的响应时间在地质尺度上几乎无法被观测到，除非是规模极其庞大的系统。上述模型可用于预测板块构造（plate-tectonic）效应对陆地、近岸海洋、深海以及大洋岛屿（oceanic island）生态系统物种多样性的影响。其中，全球及区域尺度的近岸海洋生态系统对板块构造引发的面积变化与生境破碎化最为敏感。大洋岛屿生态系统在超大陆裂解与聚合过程中同样会经历全球及区域尺度的物种多样性变化：全球尺度的变化由火山弧长度的改变驱动，而区域尺度的变化则由浅海区域的次生全球海平面变化所驱动。尽管单个陆地生物群区或大陆可能因裂谷作用与大陆碰撞发生物种多样性的显著变化，但全球陆地总物种多样性应当保持稳定，仅会受到全球海平面变化对陆地面积产生的次生效应带来的相对小幅影响。元群落纬度位置的改变可能会强化或抵消上述物种多样性变化。