Plio-Pleistocene climatic change had a major impact on the assembly and disassembly processes of Iberian rodent communities

摘要: Comprehension of changes in community composition through multiple spatio-temporal scales is a prime challenge ecology and palaeobiology. However, assembly, structuring disassembly biotic metacommunities deep-time insufficiently known. To address this, we used the extensively sampled Iberian Plio-Pleistocene fossil record rodent faunas as our model system to explore how global climatic events may alter metacommunity structure. Through factor analysis, found five sets genera, called faunal components, which co-vary proportional diversity over time. These components had different distributions throughout Plio-Pleistocene, resulting non-random species assemblages, particularly response development Pleistocene glaciations. Three successive with distinctive taxonomic structures were identified consequence differential responses their members change: (1) Ruscinian subtropical (5.3–3.4 Ma) dominated by component that can be considered Miocene legacy; (2) transition during Villafranchian–Biharian (3.4–0.8 mixture components; (3) final dominance temperate Toringian (0.8–0.01 would lead modern assemblage. The influence cooling temperature drove reorganisation these metacommunities. Selective extinction processes due this large-scale environmental disturbance progressively eliminated specialist from early Pliocene metacommunity. This process was accompanied organisation diversified an increased importance biome generalist species, finally followed assembly middle–late new set specialised novel environments developed