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Macroevolutionary perspectives to environmental change
Author(s) -
Condamine Fabien L.,
Rolland Jonathan,
Morlon Hélène
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.12062
Subject(s) - macroevolution , biodiversity , environmental change , perspective (graphical) , biology , ecology , global biodiversity , phylogenetic tree , environmental ethics , geography , climate change , biochemistry , philosophy , artificial intelligence , gene , computer science
Predicting how biodiversity will be affected and will respond to human‐induced environmental changes is one of the most critical challenges facing ecologists today. Here, we put current environmental changes and their effects on biodiversity in a macroevolutionary perspective. We build on research in palaeontology and recent developments in phylogenetic approaches to ask how macroevolution can help us understand how environmental changes have affected biodiversity in the past, and how they will affect biodiversity in the future. More and more paleontological and phylogenetic data are accumulated, and we argue that much of the potential these data have for understanding environmental changes remains to be explored.