125 Ma of physiographic changes and mammal macroevolution

Changes in the physical environment, whether geological or climatic, are known to be major drivers of biodiversity. At the interface between the solid Earth and the climate lies the physiography, and landscape complexity and variety may control biodiversity mechanisms at a finer scale that the large scale patterns of plate tectonics and global climate. To test whether variation of physiography through time and space can explain the current richness pattern of biodiversity and understand the impact of landscape complexity evolution on specific mechanistic processes, we simulated the diversification of terrestrial mammals at global scale, over 125 Ma of geological and climatic changes, using a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary simulation model (genesis). We designed four evolutionary scenarios in which evolution was only dependent on climate and plate tectonics (M0), and scenarios where physiographic diversity was implemented in speciation (M1), dispersion (M2) and niche ecology (M3). To assess whether model predictions are consistent with the empirical distribution of terrestrial mammals, we statistically identify general emergent patterns of biodiversity within and across spatial and temporal scales.