Biotectonics: Making and Breaking Barriers
We investigate some exemplar regions where the integration of neotectonics and dynamic topography had created unique biogeographic areas, namely, transition zones. We also term two new concepts, Marginal Plate Biotectonics and Intra-plate Biotectonics, to
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Biotectonics: Making and Breaking Barriers
Abstract We investigate some exemplar regions where the integration of neotectonics and dynamic topography had created unique biogeographic areas, namely, transition zones. We also term two new concepts, Marginal Plate Biotectonics and Intra-plate Biotectonics, to distinguish between different types of tectonic and biogeographic interactions. A preliminary analysis reveals that transitions zones along tectonic margins (subduction, transverse) share greater similarity to each other than they do with those found within plates. We also propose a case for biotectonic extinction and discuss the future of biotectonics.
4.1 D ynamic Topography as a Biogeographic Barrier Breaker Unlike biomes, biogeographic areas form over much longer times, and no current biogeographic region would be a result of neotectonics (i.e. formed in the Neogene). Australian biogeographic areas, for instance, are old, while biomes are relatively young (Ebach 2017). For example, many Australian taxa, such as the eucalypts, Acacia, and Banksia, have fossil records extending into the Palaeogene (Murphy et al. 2019) while other taxa such as Agathis and other Araucariaceae extending back further into the Mesozoic. Breaking or degrading biogeographic barriers, that is, creating areas of mixing (i.e. overlap or transition), can be done within much shorter time frames (Ferro and Morrone 2014). The mixing of biota along biogeographic boundaries due to intra-plate neotectonism or the collision of two or more plates or terranes are examples of biotectonics.
4.1.1 Intra-plate Biotectonics We propose Intra-plate Biotectonics (IPB) as a general term for biotic barrier formation or degradation due to dynamic topography away from active tectonic margins (i.e. passive margins or intra-plate processes). Biogeographic areas separated by barriers such as plateaux, inland seas, or marine transgressions may be con© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 M. C. Ebach, B. Michaux, Biotectonics, SpringerBriefs in Evolutionary Biology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51773-1_4
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4 Biotectonics: Making and Breaking Barriers
nected due to dynamic uplift creating marine regressions in cases of sea barriers or dynamic depression in areas where elevation is a barrier. Two biotic transition zones, the Chinese and Afro-Arabian, and the drainage patterns of the Amazon basin are discussed below as examples of the effects of dynamic topography on biotic distributions. 4.1.1.1 Chinese Transition Zone (CTZ) The Chinese Transition Zone (sensu Morrone 2015; Hermongenes de Mendonça and Ebach 2020; Fig. 4.1) marks the boundary between the Palearctic and Oriental regions. The Oriental region of southern China is wet and warm and dominated by broadleaf and bamboo forests, while the Palearctic region is drier and colder and dominated by grasslands. The very obvious bioregionalisation of China has long been recognised and has been described for many diverse groups (Norton et al. 2010; He
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