Journal article

Publication year: 2015

Pages: 11478-11483

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume number: 112

Issue number: 37

ISSN: 0027-8424

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503992112

Publisher: National Academy of Sciences

Abstract: 
Continental aquatic species richness hotspots are unevenly distributed across the planet. In present-day Europe, only two centers of biodiversity exist (Lake Ohrid on the Balkans and the Caspian Sea). During the Neogene, a wide variety of hotspots developed in a series of long-lived lakes. The mechanisms underlying the presence of richness hotspots in different geological periods have not been properly examined thus far. Based on Miocene to Recent gastropod distributions, we show that the existence and evolution of such hotspots in inland-water systems are tightly linked to the geo-dynamic history of the European continent. Both past and present hotspots are related to the formation and persistence of long-lived lake systems in geological basins or to isolation of existing inland basins and embayments from themarine realm. The faunal evolution within hotspots highly depends on warm climates and surface area. During the Quaternary icehouse climate and extensive glaciations, limnic biodiversity sustained a severe decline across the continent and most former hotspots disappeared. The Recent gastropod distribution is mainly a geologically young pattern formed after the Last Glacial Maximum (19 ky) and subsequent formation of post-glacial lakes. The major hotspots today are related to long-lived lakes in preglacially formed, permanently subsiding geological basins.

Harvard Citation style: Neubauer, T., Harzhauser, M., Georgopoulou, E., Kroh, A. and Mandic, O. (2015) Tectonics, climate, and the rise and demise of continental aquatic species richness hotspots, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(37), pp. 11478-11483. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503992112

APA Citation style: Neubauer, T., Harzhauser, M., Georgopoulou, E., Kroh, A., & Mandic, O. (2015). Tectonics, climate, and the rise and demise of continental aquatic species richness hotspots. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112(37), 11478-11483. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503992112